05:58 04-04-2026

US Military Exposed by Tungsten Shortage Crisis

DanilovVA, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Iran conflict highlights a growing tungsten shortage in the US, exposing supply chain risks, rising prices, and dependence on foreign sources.

The confrontation around Iran has exposed a critical weakness in the U.S. military-industrial complex: its reliance on tungsten — a rare metal essential for producing certain types of ammunition and key weapons components. This issue was highlighted by Foreign Policy.

According to the publication, the United States currently has no active industrial-scale tungsten mining. As military activity continues, stockpiles of weapons that depend on the metal are being rapidly depleted, while replenishment is proving slow and difficult. Limited supply channels are only adding to the strain.

Pini Althaus, managing partner at investment firm Cove Capital, indicated in comments to the magazine that the shortage is becoming increasingly evident. He pointed to a clear gap in the supply chain and noted that there is still no concrete plan to close it in the near term.

Amid the ongoing tensions, tungsten prices have surged by more than 500%, Foreign Policy reports. At the same time, the U.S. remains heavily dependent on imports and foreign processing, while China continues to dominate the global market.

The outlet also recalls that the last commercial tungsten mining operations in the United States ceased over a decade ago. Washington is now attempting to accelerate the development of a domestic supply chain for critical minerals. However, experts caution that launching new mining projects, expanding processing capacity, and building the necessary infrastructure will take years.