Since the war in Iran started, the U.S. has been running into an urgent problem.

America and its allies are firing defense weapons faster than they can make them.

Specifically, interceptor missiles that shoot down incoming airstrikes.

The depletion is pretty rapid.

How long it can last, and I think this is part of Iran's strategy, which is can they outlast us?

You can't replace them overnight. You're not probably going to even be able to replace them this year.

The US and Israel are trying to wipe out Iran's missile capacity before they

run out of missile interceptors. Our colleague Boyan Panchevsky has been looking into the issue.

There are only so many so-called interceptor missiles that you can buy on the market. And

Arab allies of the United States found themselves burning through their stockpiles

very quickly because the barrages coming in from Iran were extremely intense.

In the first few days of the war, the US and its allies fired hundreds of missile interceptors to repel Iranian attacks.

That's led to a burn rate that's threatening to exhaust supplies.

The problem is, it's not an issue of money, it's an issue of manufacturing.

America is just not in the position to manufacture enough of these crucial missiles.

That's kind of mind-boggling.

So it's a question of basically is the new economy of war,

and I think the U.S. is lagging behind.

The Department of Defense has said the U.S. does have enough weapons to achieve its goals in Iran.

But the Persian Gulf isn't the only place that relies on these missiles.

In fact, they're needed all over the world, especially in Ukraine.

For Ukraine, that means that they will probably not have enough air defenses this year if this war in Iran continues.

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