The United States may only have reserves of rare earth elements, essential for the manufacture of modern weapons, for two more months, in the context of the war against Iran, according to a report cited by The Oil Price.
The US has already launched hundreds of missiles and precision-guided weapons in the conflict with Iran, an aerial campaign that has consumed billions of dollars in advanced military equipment in just a few weeks. However, experts warn that the materials needed to continue producing these weapons could be dangerously low.
Reports presented by the South China Morning Post and Reuters indicate that Washington may only have two months until it depletes certain stocks of rare earths for defense production, if supply disruptions deepen.
This vulnerability arises in a context where, for decades, the United States has allowed a large part of their rare earth processing and metallization capacity to migrate abroad, leaving China to dominate the stages of the supply chain that transform raw materials into metals and magnets used in advanced technology. Today, a large part of the rare earth resources used in Western defense systems still passes through Chinese processing facilities.
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