empty warehouse

Keep one number in your mind: two thousand two hundred.

This is the estimate by the Center for Strategic and International Studies of the number of American Patriot interceptor missiles - in its two modern versions - before the start of the war with Iran. Next to him, four hundred and fifty two Todd cars.

Now five months later.

The Reuters news agency, citing two informed sources, reported that the US military has used up "virtually all" of its Atcoms and PRSM missiles. As for the Patriot, the numbers are not consistent: CSIS says about two-thirds, CNN sources say about half. About Todd, the same sources put forward a figure of nearly eighty percent.

The White House denies all of this. A Pentagon spokesman says the US military has "everything it needs" and has more ammunition than any other country.

But here is a point that goes beyond the number.

Last week, Trump said he had called off the attack. The official narrative was diplomacy. A few days later, these reports were published and a second narrative was formed: maybe the empty warehouse had a part in that decision.

We don't know which one is right. No one outside that room knows. Exact ammunition numbers are classified.

But we do know this: a war that lasts five months doesn't just wear down the weaker side. It takes years to produce a Patriot missile; His shot, a few seconds.

This is the pulse of Iran twenty-four.