U.S. air defense supply shrinks during Iran war, leaving experts concerned

By — Nick Schifrin Nick Schifrin By — Veronica Vela Veronica Vela Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/u-s-air-defense-supply-shrinks-during-iran-war-leaving-experts-concerned Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Audio The exchange of fire between the United States and Iran has paused in the last few days. One challenge the U.S. has confronted in the war with Iran has been the shortfall in ballistic missile and drone defense systems. Nick Schifrin discussed more with Jerry McGinn. He was a senior official in the Defense Department’s Office of Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. Geoff Bennett: The high-intensity exchange of fire between the U.S. and Iran paused over the weekend. And, today, President Trump played up the prospects for negotiations. Our Nick Schifrin reports now on the state of the war. Nick Schifrin: Today, on the waters where one-fifth of the world's oil and natural gas used to flow, ships are stuck, and there is an eerie quiet. It's a very different sound than the last two weeks of nightly U.S. fire and Iranian missiles and drones launched at the U.S.' Gulf allies. Today, President Trump said the recent sound of silence was giving diplomacy a chance. Donald Trump, President of the United States: We're having good talks. So we will see what happens. I think there's a good chance that something could happen. And if it does, good. If it doesn't, we go back to doing what we were doing two days ago. Nick Schifrin: Although Iranian spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said there were no direct talks. Esmaeil Baghaei, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman (through interpreter): Mediators may convey messages from the American side to us regarding the current developments in the region, but at present we have no negotiations with the American side. Nick Schifrin: But the U.S. pause isn't only about diplomacy. It's also about the inventory of American air defense and Arab warnings. Two U.S. officials tell me that, late last week, the military presented the president with multiple options. The military argued, if the president decided to escalate, that would erode Iran's capability to attack ships and U.S. bases and would therefore save precious American air defense interceptors. But the U.S.' Gulf allies were warning the president against escalation, fearing Iranian attacks on Arab capitals, desalinization plants, and commercial centers that the U.S. could not prevent. The military also told the president that if instead the strikes are continued at the same level as they had been over the past two weeks, Iran would continue its missile and drone attacks and that could challenge the U.S. ability to defend its own bases from Iranian attacks. In the end, the president opted to pause entirely. And, today, the president denied