Originally Posted by
ORAC
"Exoatmospheric interception of an Iranian medium-range ballistic missile seen earlier tonight over Al-Asharah in the Deir ez-Zor Governorate of Eastern Syria, likely carried out by an SM-3 fired by a U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer positioned in the Eastern Mediterranean."
This raises the question for me as to how many medium-range ballistic missiles Iran has, and how many SM-3s the USA has deployed in-theatre. Given Iran's published target list, there is a lot of pressure on the USA to provide adequate cover for those, as well as other not listed, but militarily important targets. The SM-3s cost between USD 10 million and USD 30 million each.
https://www.businessinsider.com/us-n...t-2024-10?op=1
https://thedefensepost.com/2026/03/17/sm-3-block-ib/
https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary...n-warfare.html
I would hope that USA and Israeli intelligence know how many medium-range ballistic missiles Iran has available and therefore have enough stock of adequate defensive weapons: otherwise the Iranian strategy is clear. Currently, the Iranians have absolutely no incentive to hold back.