US President Donald Trump has, for now, set aside plans to sharply escalate the American military campaign against Iran, with growing concern that a wider war could dangerously deplete the Pentagon's stockpile of Patriot missile interceptors and other air defence munitions in the Middle East, The New York Times reports.

The U.S. defense industrial base isn't equipped to produce missiles rapidly enough to replenish munitions used in the war with Iran, or transferred for use to Central Command.

The US president had weighed a multistage bombing campaign against Iranian military, energy and nuclear targets, but advisers warned that heavier fighting could drain Patriot…