On April 16, senior officials from the US State Department and Department of Defense directly sent bilateral messages to their counterparts in Europe. These notifications were transmitted through official diplomatic channels between governments, confirming that many batches of weapons under contract would not be delivered on time. The root cause is that the conflict in Iran is consuming a large amount of equipment from Washington's strategic reserves.
The countries most heavily affected include the Baltic region and Scandinavia. These are allies bordering Russia, which are relying on procurement contracts from the US to strengthen defense capabilities.
Delays mainly occur for shipments under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program - a process in which the US Government acts as a broker and ensures logistics for defense corporations.
This stagnation reveals the level of tension in the US ammunition supply since the airstrike campaign on Iran began on February 28. The simultaneous maintenance of fronts in Ukraine, Gaza and now Iran is delaying the Pentagon's response capability.
Responding to these complaints, Washington affirmed that the above weapons are a vital priority to protect US and Israeli forces in the Middle East. Even US officials have made counter-attacking criticisms, saying that European countries have not provided military support in clearing the Strait of Hormuz.
The situation became serious when Tehran continuously launched hundreds of ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles, forcing the US to spend a large amount of Patriot PAC-3 interceptor missiles. This is also the type of equipment that the Baltic countries are eager to have to build an air defense shield against fluctuations at the eastern border. This priority of the White House is pushing many European capitals into a dilemma in security.
