The Wall Street Journal on June 18 reported that the United States would be pulling most of its air defense systems out of the Persian Gulf and from Jordan, claiming those countries could adequately defend themselves and that the US air defenses were needed elsewhere to confront both Russia and China.
The affected countries include Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait and Jordan.
The systems that are being removed include eight Patriot air defense batteries and the single THAAD ballistic missile defense unit that was moved to Saudi Arabia after the cruise missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil installations at Abqaiq-Khurais in September 2019.
