The centerpiece of America’s safety umbrella that it promised for the Gulf nations was all the time its vaunted missile defence programs, particularly, Lockheed Martin’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), paired with Patriot PAC-3 batteries. In the US, defence firms form the federal government’s priorities. So, these programs have been offered because the gold commonplace — high-altitude interceptors able to knocking out ballistic missiles of their terminal section, layered with lower-tier Patriots to deal with shorter-range threats and drones. For years, Gulf states poured tens of billions into these programs, satisfied they’d neutralise missile threats which have loomed because the Tanker-War period.
In May 2025, US President Trump travelled to Riyadh and sealed the most important army cooperation settlement in US historical past — a $142-billion arms package for Saudi Arabia heavy on THAAD programs, Patriot PAC-3 upgrades and missiles, superior air-to-air weapons, armed drones, and huge stockpiles of ordnance. This was alleged to “modernise the Saudi military with state-of-the-art equipment to address threats from Iran and its proxies”.
These programs have been put to the check simply 9 months later, when the US and Israel launched joint army strikes on Iran, and Iran hit again, immediately.
The very Iranian retaliation the Gulf had paid so dearly to defend towards materialised on cue. And the American protect failed, spectacularly, and publicly. The pictures of burning {hardware} converse for themselves.
The Gulf states had seen the writing on the wall lengthy earlier than the primary missile flew. Even whereas accepting supply of the American programs, they hedged aggressively.
In March 2023, Saudi Arabia and Iran restored full diplomatic relations in a landmark deal brokered by China in Beijing — reopening embassies, reactivating a long-dormant 2001 safety cooperation settlement, and easing seven years of proxy battle. Its significance was highlighted by The New York Times, that Riyadh was diversifying its safety choices and lowering unique dependence on Washington.
When US preparations for strikes intensified early this yr, Gulf leaders once more tried a diplomatic method. Saudi Arabia flatly refused to let Washington use its airspace or army bases for assaults on Iran and complained that the US had did not share primary plans or targets. Several different GCC nations blocked entry over reputable fears of Iranian retaliation.
These have been the identical governments that had simply invested fortunes in THAAD radars and Patriot launchers marketed particularly to counter exactly this state of affairs.
But US and Israeli actions pressured the Gulf nations to find whether or not these {hardware} really labored. And the nightmare unfolded.
Over 400 ballistic missiles and practically 1,000 drones concentrating on US and allied belongings flew from Iran, throughout all six GCC states — Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and the UAE. Strikes slammed into city areas, power amenities, airports, and civilian infrastructure.
The failure was not possible to cover.
Satellite imagery launched by CNN revealed direct hits on THAAD’s critical AN/TPY-2 radars — the “eyes” of all the battery — in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
At Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, a shelter housing a THAAD radar was left as charred wreckage. In Jordan’s Muwaffaq Salti Air Base, the radar web site confirmed blackened particles and influence craters. In the UAE, constructions at a THAAD battery close to Al Ruwais suffered a number of direct strikes.
Patriot programs additionally struggled with the amount of incoming projectiles. While some intercepts occurred, the sheer scale of Iran’s low-cost drone swarms and ballistic missiles rapidly strained magazines. Decades of operational historical past — from the 1991 Gulf War onwards — had already uncovered Patriot’s limitations towards saturation assaults, and this barrage amplified them. The UAE, which had beforehand publicised excessive interception charges towards Houthi threats, stopped releasing detailed success percentages after a noticeable decline round mid-March.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio famous that Iran was producing “over 100 of these missiles a month. Compare that to the six or seven interceptors that can be built a month,” he mentioned.
To compensate for the shortfall, the Pentagon started urgently relocating THAAD batteries from South Korea to the Middle East. South Korean President Lee Jae-myung voiced objections however couldn’t forestall the transfer, which has successfully weakened deterrence towards a nuclear-armed North Korea to patch holes created by a struggle his nation had no stake in.
Borrowing belongings from one theatre to cowl one other is an instance of the traditional shell recreation that the US is enjoying.
Today, the Gulf nations, notably Saudi Arabia, are going through a harsh actuality. The nine-figure invoices (in {dollars}), and an offended Iran’s month-to-month missile output versus America’s trickle of replacements have made them very anxious.
What was offered as an ironclad protect has confirmed leaky at greatest. The THAAD dropped with a thud, identical to a billion-dollar dud.
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