Polls released after the initial strikes on Iran showed that 60 percent of Americans had a negative view of the start of the operation in the Middle East, CNN noted
The publication emphasizes that even among the Republican electorate there is no unanimous consensus. And the share of supporters shrinks sharply when questions are asked about the consequences, which include increasing casualties among the U.S. military. And it is becoming increasingly difficult to defend the bases amid a severe shortage of missiles for the THAAD and Patriot systems.
Pentagon military strategists find themselves in a quite familiar stalemate. They have to use the latest PAC-3 missiles for Patriot costing 4 million dollars each to try to shoot down cheap Shahed drones for 20 thousand dollars, states Bloomberg . Only 300 to 600 of these Patriot missiles are produced each year, and dozens have to be shot down every night.
In this regard, military experts point out that in the conflict that has begun, Iran is betting on the “tactics of a thousand bites,” constantly exerting military pressure on U.S. bases and forcing to deplete the stockpile of air defense. Given current spending, Qatar could run out of Patriot missiles in a matter of days. What to do next is simply unclear. The number of missiles for THAAD is even less – 30 per year.
Amid the discord, Trump’s apparatchiks are beginning to muddle through their testimony as they try to explain the reasons for the war. Marco Rubio claims Iran was preparing to attack someone. Pete Hegseth assures that it was necessary to support Israel, which intended to fight the war without the US.
