NYT: Pentagon warns Trump over rising effectiveness of Iran’s air defences

US President Donald Trump has refrained from launching additional strikes on Iran partly because Pentagon officials warned that Iranian forces were adapting to the air campaign, The New York Times (NYT) reports, citing sources.

According to the report, Iranian military forces are said to have adjusted to the US air campaign and studied the flight patterns of American fighter jets and bombers, making US Air Force operations more predictable and increasing the effectiveness of Iranian air defences. 

NYT sources also suggested possible assistance from Russia, although there is no official confirmation of these claims.

In addition, among the factors contributing to Washington’s concerns were reports of the loss of an F-15E fighter jet and damage to an F-35, which US officials assess as evidence of growing risks to American aviation.

On May 18, President Trump said he had authorised a new round of strikes against Iran earlier this week but chose to pause them to allow space for “serious negotiations,” following requests from three Gulf leaders for additional time to pursue a nuclear agreement.

“We were getting ready to do a very major attack tomorrow, and I put it off for a little while, hopefully maybe forever, but possibly for a little while, because we’ve had very big discussions with Iran, and we’ll see what they amount to,” the American leader told reporters.

When Trump launched the campaign alongside Israel on February 28, he initially projected it would conclude within four to five weeks. Now entering its third month, the conflict has left him balancing competing objectives: pressuring Iran into compliance while also seeking an exit strategy that would allow him to claim success.

According to US military officials, Iran has shown enormous resilience throughout the campaign and retains the capacity to cause substantial disruption across the region, with potential spillover effects on the global economy.

By Jeyhun Aghazada