For decades, the U.S.-Israel alliance has rested on a basic assumption shared by both governments: in a major regional conflict, America would stand behind Israel militarily if necessary.
What few Americans likely imagined was just how much of that burden the United States might ultimately absorb itself.
According to a troubling new report from The Washington Post, Pentagon assessments now suggest American forces expended more resources defending Israel from Iranian missile strikes during Operation Epic Fury than Israel did. And the numbers reportedly have senior defense analysts deeply concerned.
Three officials familiar with internal Defense Department assessments told the Post that U.S. forces used as much as half of their inventory of certain advanced high-altitude missile interceptors during the operation, while Israeli forces conserved their own systems at a significantly slower pace.
“The numbers are striking,” Kelly Grieco of the Stimson Center told the paper.
Her assessment became even more blunt from there.
“The United States absorbed most of the missile defense mission while Israel conserved its own magazines,” she said, warning that current production levels are unable to “keep pace with demand.”
That single detail cuts directly into one of the biggest questions surrounding America’s expanding military commitments abroad: how sustainable is this pace of spending, weapons usage, and strategic depletion if multiple conflicts erupt simultaneously?
Because while Operation Epic Fury may have centered on Israel and Iran, Pentagon planners are constantly thinking about larger threats looming elsewhere — particularly China and North Korea.
And according to defense analysts cited in the report, allies like Japan and South Korea are increasingly nervous.
Those countries rely heavily on the same American missile defense infrastructure to deter attacks in the Pacific. If U.S. stockpiles are being rapidly drained protecting Israel during a limited regional conflict, questions naturally emerge about what happens during a much larger confrontation involving Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula, or direct Chinese military action.
That concern appears to extend even inside parts of the conservative foreign policy world traditionally supportive of Israel.
Justin Logan of the libertarian Cato Institute argued the imbalance directly contradicts Donald Trump’s long-promised “America First” doctrine. Logan pointed to prior Pentagon estimates reportedly suggesting the U.S. already possessed only around 25 percent of the interceptor inventory required to fully satisfy current defense planning scenarios.
“Why this wasn’t a screeching siren to Trump officials is a mystery,” Logan told the Post.
The criticism reflects a growing divide inside the Republican coalition itself.
Traditional hawkish conservatives still largely support aggressive military backing for Israel and broader American involvement abroad. But a newer populist wing increasingly questions whether the United States is overextending itself financially and militarily while domestic concerns continue mounting at home.
Complicating matters further is the uncertain status of the conflict itself.
Officially, the active phase of Operation Epic Fury appears paused under a fragile ceasefire. The Trump administration has largely signaled that the immediate crisis is under control for now.
But Trump himself has repeatedly injected uncertainty back into the situation.
Earlier this week, the president warned on Truth Social that bombing operations could resume — and intensify — if Iran refuses to accept American conditions for a long-term peace arrangement. That leaves military planners preparing for the possibility that the current pause may only be temporary.
The Pentagon, for its part, is pushing back against suggestions that the United States unfairly carried Israel militarily.
Spokesman Sean Parnell argued missile interceptors represent only one component of a much broader integrated defense network involving aircraft, counter-drone systems, radar platforms, and multiple coordinated technologies.
“Both Israel and the United States carried the defensive burden equitably during Operation Epic Fury,” Parnell told the Post.
Still, the broader concern may now extend beyond the immediate operation itself.
Modern warfare — particularly missile defense — burns through resources at astonishing speed. Interceptors costing millions of dollars can vanish in minutes during sustained attacks. Replacing them takes time, industrial capacity, and enormous amounts of money.
And as global tensions continue rising simultaneously in Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, the uncomfortable question hanging over Washington is becoming harder to ignore:
Can the United States realistically sustain this level of military commitment everywhere at once without eventually exhausting itself in the process?
