Can America Keep the Iran War Going?: The United States’ war with Iran has now been going on for half a year. While the U.S. still has ample firepower to continue the campaign, senior commanders are warning that doing so is draining forces and weapons needed elsewhere. Senior commanders warned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in an Aug. 14 classified assessment that prolonged large-scale operations against Iran are becoming unsustainable.
One person familiar with the document described the overall view as “too much for too long,” The Washington Post reported Sunday.
Idaho National Guard pilots land A-10 Thunderbolt IIs after a flight mission near Gowen Field on March 15, 2023 with the Boise foothills in the background. (U.S. National Guard photo by Master Sgt. Becky Vanshur)
A Maryland Air National Guard A-10C Thunderbolt II, aircraft 702, from the 104th Fighter Squadron, flies through the air over Bollen Air-to-Ground Range, Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania, August 9, 2025. Family, friends and aviation enthusiasts attended the 104th Fighter Squadron Family Range Day to see the jets in action before the anticipated final divestment of the A-10C Thunderbolt II in September. (U.S. Air National Guard Photo by Airman 1st Class Sarah Hoover)
This week, tensions have started heating up again. U.S. forces struck Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island on Sunday, and Iran fired back toward U.S. positions in Jordan, ending a month-long lull in direct exchanges.
U.S. Firepower Much Stronger than Iran’s
The U.S. military remains the world’s most formidable, far outranking Iran in terms of firepower.
The Center for a New American Security concluded early in the war that the United States had “deep stockpiles” of direct-attack weapons, including JDAMs, Small Diameter Bombs and Hellfire missiles. With Iranian air defenses degraded, U.S. aircraft can use those weapons without relying as heavily on scarcer long-range missiles.
Haim V. Levy, writing in a Times of Israel blog post Sunday, argued that “a stockpile does not have to reach zero before depletion becomes strategically important,” as weapons expended in the Middle East are no longer available for another contingency.
“This is not primarily a question of whether the United States should simply have manufactured more missiles.
A GAU-8 Avenger 30mm cannon in the nose of an A-10 Thunderbolt II, assigned to the 442d Fighter Wing, at Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, April 9, 2021. The GAU-8 is a hydraulically-driven rotary autocannon capable of firing 3,900 rounds per minute with a variety of ammunition types for close air support missions. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Parker J. McCauley)
A U.S. Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt II approaches a KC-135 Stratotanker for refueling over the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, May 31, 2025. The KC-135 is the premier long-term aerial refueling capability for the U.S. Air Force, effectively providing fuel to fixed-wing aircraft operating with the USCENTCOM AOR. (U.S. Air Force Photo by Staff Sgt. John C.B. Ennis)
Nor is it an attempt by an outside observer to second-guess operational decisions made with information that is not publicly available.
The more important question concerns an assumption underlying every calculation of military endurance: time.”
CNAS said American forces could continue attacking Iranian targets “for an extended period” as long as they maintained air superiority.
But the elements under the most pressure right now are the same ones Washington would need most in a hypothetical conflict with China.
They include long-range standoff weapons, anti-ship missiles, Patriot and THAAD interceptors, and counter-drone systems.
‘Operation Epic Fury’
CNAS called Operation Epic Fury a “military success funded by strategic risk.”
“Every additional week at high tempo deepens a deficit that the industrial base cannot quickly erase,” analysts Stacie Pettyjohn and Philip Sheers wrote in March.
The heads of U.S. European Command, Indo-Pacific Command and Southern Command, along with Chief of Naval Operations Adm.
Daryl Caudle, formally disagreed with extending some forces committed to the Middle East, according to the Post.
Caudle told Hegseth that approximately one-fourth of the Navy’s destroyer fleet is currently ready to deploy. Ships have been taken from other theaters, deployments extended by months and maintenance schedules disrupted.
A-10 Warthog. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
“I typically am not a big fan of extensions, and I push back hard on that, but the enemy gets a vote,” Caudle said recently.
Commanders warned that keeping ships in the Middle East could leave fewer vessels available for another contingency.
50,000 Troops on High Alert
More than 50,000 U.S. troops have remained on alert in the Middle East for months. Army units face extended deployments, while some Air Force units could remain in theater into 2027.
The Institute for the Study of War and Critical Threats Project reported Friday that Iranian officials are increasingly warning publicly about the economic consequences of six months of war, sanctions, and the U.S. naval blockade.
Islamic Republic In Crisis
President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Aug. 21 that the war eventually had to stop and “it would be better to end it now.”
Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf issued an even starker warning, stating that Iran could not endure, “regardless of its military strength,” if its population was hungry and the country lacked economic growth, domestic production and functioning financial flows.
A-10 Warthog. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
The theocratic regime appears sufficiently concerned about that message that Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei’s Telegram account warned officials Friday against “disappointing speech” and framing Iran’s choices as “war or negotiation” or “compromise or warmongering.”
The United States can sustain military operations against Iran.
The question six months into the war is how long it can sustain the current level of operations without winding down the forces and weapons available for something potentially much larger elsewhere.
About the Author: Georgia Gilholy
Georgia Gilholy is a journalist based in the United Kingdom who has been published in Newsweek, The Times of Israel, and the Spectator. Gilholy writes about international politics, culture, and education.
