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  "path": "/post/207569/donald-trump-tactical-error-iran-ukraine-drones",
  "publishedAt": "2026-03-10T14:31:58.000Z",
  "site": "https://newrepublic.com",
  "tags": [
    "Breaking News",
    "Politics",
    "Republican Party",
    "Donald Trump",
    "Foreign Policy",
    "Middle East",
    "Iran",
    "Drones",
    "Drone Strikes",
    "War",
    "Ukraine",
    "Negotiation",
    "Ukraine Invasion",
    "war in Iran], this was it,” a U.S. official told [Axios",
    "CNN"
  ],
  "textContent": "The U.S. could have had the schematics for Iran’s Shahed drones, but the Trump administration said no.\n\nRoughly seven months ago, Ukrainian officials tried to sell the White House the technology to destroy Iran’s inexpensive, low-flying drones, going so far as to compile a PowerPoint presentation to sway the admin. The intel was battle-proven: Ukraine has more experience fighting Shaheds than practically any other country, downing the same design under Russia’s flag (Russia rebranded the military tech as “Geran drones”).\n\nThe decision to snub the offer is now being discussed as one of the biggest miscalculations thus far in the Iran war.\n\n“If there’s a tactical error or a mistake we made leading up to this war in Iran], this was it,” a U.S. official told [Axios Tuesday.\n\nUkraine developed its own home-grown, low-cost interceptor drone to combat the design, along with air defense systems and sensors. At a closed-door White House meeting on August 18, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy offered the defense tech to Donald Trump. It was extended in an act of good will—an attempt to strengthen ties with the U.S. amid increasing tension over Russia’s invasion. Trump was reportedly interested and “asked his team to work on it, but they have done nothing,” an unnamed Ukrainian official told Axios.\n\nThe Shahed drones are capable of flying low and slow, a facet of their design that has made them difficult targets for U.S. air defenses, particularly as the U.S. and its allies run low on interceptor munitions.\n\nMilitary officials have stressed since last weekend that fighting Iran has drastically depleted America’s missile defense systems. In a closed-door meeting with lawmakers on March 3, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine reportedly said that Iran’s Shahed attack drones had proved a more difficult problem than initially predicted.\n\nIn the days since, European Union defense officials have warned that the U.S. is no longer capable of supplying missiles to its allies amid its war with Iran, stressing that the continent would need to develop its own missile manufacturing sector in order to adequately fill its supply without Washington’s help.\n\nOne source told CNN that the U.S. has been “burning” through long-range precision-guided missiles in order to fend off the drones.",
  "title": "Trump Made Massive “Tactical Error” on Iran During Ukraine Talks"
}