According to a report from the Middle Eastern Eye, Israel was running low on the terminal’s Highland Regional Defense (THAAD) interceptors as Iranian ballistic missiles were condemned by Israeli cities in June.
The US asked Saudi Arabia to take over the interceptor to help its US allies get in trouble. But Riyadh’s response was “no,” two US officials familiar with the speech spoke to the Middle Eastern eyes.
“During the war, we asked everyone to give,” one official told Me. “When that didn’t work, we tried to trade. It wasn’t aiming for one country.”
However, Saudi Arabia is well placed to support Israel, and US officials want to emphasize that Iran is just as a threat to them as Israel.
The US already deploys air defense systems to oil-rich Gulf nations, with Houthi missile and drone attacks being targeted until recently.
As Iran and Israel were fighting it, the kingdom was preparing to receive the first THAAD battery they had purchased with their own sovereign funds. In fact, the battery was launched by the Saudi forces on July 3, just nine days after Israel and Iran reached a ceasefire.
Shortly before his inauguration, US officials were concerned that Iran’s massive ballistic missile attacks on Israel would discharge US interceptor stockpiles to “terrifying levels.”
MNA