South Korea confirms US moving air defence systems to the Middle East

South Korea confirms US moving air defence systems to the Middle East Submitted by Sean Mathews on Tue, 03/10/2026 - 21:05 The US has a mutual defence pact with the country, but Seoul says it has no power to stop the move South Korean President Lee Jae Myung delivers a speech at the Philippines-Korea Business Forum in Pasay, Metro Manila, on 4 March 2026 (Jam Sta Rosa/Pool/AFP) Off South Korean President Lee Jae Myung confirmed on Tuesday that the US planned to pull air defence systems from his country to wage war on Iran . “We oppose the withdrawal of some US air defence weapons used for our country’s military needs, but it is also a harsh reality that we cannot completely impose our opinion,” Lee Jae Myung told his cabinet. The statement is the first public confirmation that the US has been forced to take critical air defence systems from East Asia to secure the Middle East after the US and Israel launched a war on Iran.