The remarks follow a report from Polish daily Rzeczpospolita earlier Tuesday alleging U.S. officials had asked Warsaw to shift one of its Patriot batteries to the Middle East as Iran’s retaliatory drone strikes on U.S. Gulf allies put a growing strain on air defense stockpiles.
However, a senior defense official from a NATO country who spoke on condition of anonymity said that Poland had not been singled out by Washington. The U.S. has approached all its NATO allies with two questions on air defense: It is looking for batteries for Ukraine and also for the Middle East, but not the Gulf, to protect NATO installations, the official said.
“There was no special pressure on Poland,” they said. “This was a question that was sent to all allies.”
Even the pro-Donald Trump opposition Law and Justice party is balking at the idea of transferring a Patriot battery.
Mariusz Błaszczak, a former defense minister, on Tuesday told reporters: “Poland should not grant approval for such matters.”
The U.S. military and Gulf states used 1,285 PAC-3 Patriot missiles in the first 16 days of the war Trump launched against Iran. Poland currently has two Patriot batteries, each with 16 launchers, and has received most of the 200 specialized missiles it ordered from the U.S. in 2019.
This article has been updated.