Israel has flatly denied a report claiming the IDF told Washington its interceptor missile stockpile was running dry, calling it a "complete fake" – and suggesting the story may have originated with Iran or one of its proxies.
According to three Israeli officials familiar with the situation, the IDF has a sufficient number of interceptor missiles of all types. The stockpile is continuously replenished through round-the-clock production at defense industry facilities in Israel and abroad.
Ongoing dialogue and coordination between Israel and the United States covers this issue as well, as it does all other aspects of the war the two countries are fighting shoulder to shoulder. Because production is a joint effort, the Americans themselves make extensive use of a range of interceptor missiles across various systems, including Iron Dome, Arrow, and David's Sling.
One of the officials stressed that since there is no shortage of interceptors, no such update was ever conveyed to the Americans. He added that it was not an unreasonable assumption to treat the report as one planted by Iran or one of its allies. The source of the story was Semafor, which is not considered friendly to Israel and whose reliability is unclear.
Intelligence of this caliber would require exceptional sources among senior US decision-makers – sources unlikely to pass such information to a marginal news outlet.
As reported by Semafor, Israel had allegedly informed Washington that its interceptor stockpile had reached a critically low point against the backdrop of the escalation with Iran. According to the report, Israel entered the campaign with a depleted stockpile following the fighting in June and is now attempting to find its own solutions.
