Pentagon weighs diverting Ukraine military aid to Middle East

PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative file photo — A U.S. Air Force C-5M Super Galaxy is seen at Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England, Jan. 19, 2017. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Eli Chevalier via U.S. Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS))

The Pentagon is weighing whether to redirect weapons originally meant for Ukraine to the Middle East, as the war in Iran strains supplies of some of the U.S. military's most critical munitions, the Washington Post reported Thursday, citing three people familiar with the matter.

The weapons that could be redirected include air defense interceptor missiles purchased through a NATO initiative launched last year, under which partner countries buy U.S. arms for Kyiv, the report said.

The consideration comes as U.S. operations in the region intensify. Admiral Brad Cooper, the Central Command chief leading U.S. forces in the Middle East, on Wednesday said the U.S. had hit over 10,000 targets inside Iran and was on track to limit Iran's ability to project power outside its borders.

A Pentagon spokesperson told the newspaper that the Defense Department would "ensure that U.S. forces and those of our allies and partners have what they need to fight and win."

In response to a query about the report, a NATO official said members of the alliance and its partners continue to contribute to its Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) programme that funds the supply of U.S. arms for Kyiv.

"Equipment is continuously flowing into Ukraine," the official added. "The amount pledged to PURL so far is of several billion U.S. dollars and we expect more contributions to follow." 

The Pentagon and the U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

 (Reporting by Shivani Tanna and Andrew Gray, Editing by Louise Heavens and Ros Russell // REUTERS // Headline revised by Paul Garraty (OAF Nation))