U.S. Military Ammunition Shortage: How the Iran War Affects Asia’s Security in 2026

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The war with Iran has drained U.S. inventories of advanced weapons, undermining security postures across Asia and Europe, several reports say.

The New York Times reported on the 23rd that U.S. stockpiles of advanced precision munitions fell sharply after the Iran conflict began, rapidly degrading readiness in both theaters.

Administration and congressional sources cited by the NYT say U.S. forces fired roughly 1,100 JASSM‑ER stealth cruise missiles after launching Operation Grand Fury. Officials estimate about 1,500 rounds remain in inventory.

The JASSM‑ER—priced at roughly 1.6 billion KRW per round (about $1.2 million)—was developed for a potential conflict with China. With a range near 1,000 km, it is designed to strike targets beyond enemy air‑defense envelopes.

The Tomahawk long‑range cruise missile, the most-used U.S. missile in combat since the 1991 Gulf War, has also seen more than 1,000 launches. At about 5.3 billion KRW per missile (around $4.0 million), that level of use is roughly ten times the typical annual procurement.

On March 27, the Washington, D.C.–based think tank CSIS, citing a Washington Post report, estimated that roughly 850 Tomahawks had been expended in Operation Grand Fury and that remaining stocks were likely in the low 3,000s.

CSIS warned that while current stocks were sufficient to prosecute the campaign, heavy use of Tomahawks and other missiles increases U.S. risk in other theaters—particularly the western Pacific.

More than 1,200 Patriot interceptor missiles have also been fired—about twice last year’s production of roughly 600. Each Patriot interceptor costs about 5.9 billion KRW (approximately $4.4 million).

Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM) and ATACMS surface‑to‑surface missiles each saw more than 1,000 rounds expended, pushing those inventories toward dangerously low levels.

Because global U.S. munitions stocks have been drawn down, the Pentagon has moved strategic materiel from Asia and Europe to the Middle East on an emergency basis.

The financial toll has drawn scrutiny as well.

While the White House has not published an official tally, independent think tanks such as CSIS and the American Enterprise Institute estimated in early April that the conflict had cost between 41 trillion and 52 trillion KRW (roughly $30.8–39.0 billion). That equates to about 1.5 trillion KRW a day (about $1.1 billion a day).

Defense officials told members of Congress that munitions expended in the campaign’s first two days alone totaled about 8.3 trillion KRW (roughly $6.2 billion).

The NYT concluded that restoring munitions stockpiles to prewar levels will require painful tradeoffs in regional force posture.

Sen. Jack Reed (D‑R.I.), ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, warned, “At current production rates, it could take years to replenish what we burned through.” Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at CSIS and a retired Marine colonel, added that while the U.S. holds adequate stocks of many munitions, “some key ground‑attack and missile‑defense munitions were in short supply before the war—and they are even shorter now.”

The most worrisome gap appears to be in the Pacific.

The Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group, which had been operating in the South China Sea, and two Marine expeditionary units in the Pacific—about 4,400 Marines—have redeployed to the Middle East.

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean‑Pierre dismissed the NYT report as premised on false assumptions, saying, “The United States has the world’s most powerful military, and munitions and weapons stockpiled at home and abroad are more than sufficient to defend the homeland and execute all orders from our commander‑in‑chief.”

Pentagon chief spokesperson Sean Parnell said he could not discuss specifics about requirements in particular theaters or global asset posture, citing operational security.