By Corinne Baum, August 9, 2026

Russia and China could feel emboldened to begin a hot conflict with America due to the US’s rapidly depleting weapons supply, senior officials and defense experts told the New York Times on Saturday.

The US has burned through its offensive and defensive weapons in its war against Iran. Sources told the NYT that the shortage could last beyond the Trump administration’s tenure in office, leaving future presidencies vulnerable to Russian and Chinese attacks.

Tom Karako, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that the depleted munitions stockpile was a “generational annihilation of the means of conventional deterrence.”Tom Karako, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that the depleted munitions stockpile was a “generational annihilation of the means of conventional deterrence.”