A stark warning has landed on the desks of senior Pentagon officials this week. The general overseeing U.S. military operations in Europe says he doesn’t have enough naval firepower to keep shielding Israel from incoming ballistic missiles, at least not without giving something up elsewhere.
Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, who heads U.S. European Command, put the problem in writing. Without an additional Navy destroyer, he told Pentagon leadership, he will eventually have to prioritize defending the American homeland over defending Israel, according to officials who spoke to the Washington Post on condition of anonymity because the correspondence wasn’t public.
A defense official told the Post this kind of message isn’t unusual on its own. Top generals regularly flag risks like this to Washington when resources get stretched thin, especially as different commanders end up competing for the same limited pool of ships and weapons.
Why Now
The warning lands at a fragile point in a war that’s now stretched past five months. Peace talks between Washington and Tehran recently collapsed, and attacks have picked back up to nearly a daily occurrence since. That pace has burned through American stockpiles of the defensive weapons systems that make missile interception possible in the first place.
The Navy in particular has been under enormous strain. The Trump administration ordered a blockade of Iranian ports after Iran closed off the Strait of Hormuz, and that standoff has choked the flow of Middle Eastern oil and other goods through one of the world’s most critical shipping lanes, sending shockwaves through the global economy.
What’s Actually Defending Israel
For years now, Navy destroyers stationed in the eastern Mediterranean have formed a key part of Israel’s missile defense. These ships carry sophisticated radar systems and a range of missiles capable of shooting down incoming threats, not just from Iran directly, but from Houthi fighters in Yemen who are armed and backed by Tehran.
European Command sits at the center of coordinating all of this in the Mediterranean. But that’s only part of the job. The command also has to stay ready to respond if Russia makes any move against NATO protected territory, and Russia’s own ballistic missiles are capable of reaching the U.S. mainland, adding another layer of pressure on the same limited set of resources.
Ships Stretched Thin
According to Pentagon officials, the Navy currently operates five destroyers out of its base in Rota, Spain, with a sixth set to join them later this year. But the grinding pace of the Iran war has caused maintenance problems to pile up, making Grynkewich’s job even harder. The Washington Post noted that it agreed to withhold specific details about how many ships are currently available, at the request of military officials citing security concerns.