WASHINGTON, March 6. /TASS/. The US military lacks effective defenses against Iran’s Shahed kamikaze drones, The Atlantic magazine reported, citing a source.
"There are not great defenses available to the US military to defend against the Shahed," a congressional official told the media outlet after a closed-door briefing with senior members of the Trump administration. Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth and General Dan Caine, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, acknowledged this gap in US counter-drone technology, the official said, adding: "So they have to use the defensives they have, which are costly."
Earlier, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing Western officials, that the arsenal of drones would make it possible for Iran to carry out retaliatory strikes even if the country ran out of missiles.
The US and Israel launched a military operation against Iran on February 28. The White House justified the attack by citing missile and nuclear threats allegedly coming from Tehran. The White House justified the attack by citing missile and nuclear threats allegedly coming from Tehran. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced a large-scale retaliatory operation, hitting targets in Israel. US facilities in Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE and Saudi Arabia also came under attack. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several other key figures in the Iranian leadership were killed in strikes on the country.