Tara Copp, Natalie Allison and Noah Robertson
Washington: US President Donald Trump’s frustration over the Iran war boiled over last week, when he demanded answers from Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on why he had apparently been misled on extreme munitions shortages that now threaten to limit military options with Iran, two people familiar with the exchange told The Washington Post.
The encounter took place on Friday on the sidelines of his cabinet meeting at Camp David, where Trump vented at Hegseth that he thought the munitions issue “had been fixed”, according to both persons familiar with the conversation, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation.
The shortages, particularly in long-range guided missiles and air-defence interceptors, had been part of the reason Trump had pulled back from launching additional massive strikes against Iran in recent days, one of the sources said.
Trump said on Monday that he had ordered and subsequently called off “the biggest attack since World War II”, pending claims of new negotiations over the Strait of Hormuz.
While the United States has announced new production agreements for some of the most critical munitions, such as Patriot air-defence missiles, the munitions themselves can take as long as two years to produce, and there’s no immediate relief in sight for the shortages.
In the first month of fighting alone, the US fired off more than 850 Tomahawk cruise missiles and more than 1000 Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) systems, the Post previously reported.
The US also used more than 1300 of the army’s tactical ballistic missiles in the initial weeks of fighting, one US official told the Post. The stockpile of ATACMs – a short-range missile also in demand by Ukraine – is drained to the point at which none are left, said one person familiar with the issue, as reported earlier this week by Reuters.
The scarcity of defensive munitions has had an impact beyond the Middle East. Ukraine is running out of air defences, and there are few options with which to replenish from Western stockpiles, leaving it exposed to Russia’s long-range attacks.
The lack of interceptor missiles is also altering how the US decides whether to employ munitions against an incoming threat, based on where it’s assessed to be heading and whether it’s “a factor”, the US official told the Post, a change in tactics that was first reported by NBC News.
Back at Camp David, as he was confronted by Trump over the bare weapons stockpile, Hegseth defended himself and blamed his deputy, Stephen Feinberg, for the shortages and for not ensuring Trump was fully apprised of the issue, both sources said.
‘We’re often talking years between spending what we need to spend and delivery. You don’t just flip the switch and suddenly the munition appears in the hands of the war fighter.’
Brad Bowman, the Foundation for Defence of Democracies
The exchange underscored Trump’s increasing frustration with his defence secretary, who was one of the biggest early advocates for taking military action against Iran, convincing Trump it would be a quick and relatively easy win, according to multiple officials.
“This is 100 per cent fake news. Literally, never happened. And President Trump has the utmost confidence in Secretary Hegseth,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in response to questions from the Post.
More than five months after the start of the conflict, and with 18 American service members killed and hundreds injured, Iran and the US remain at a stalemate, with increasing concern from Arab neighbours about the long-term economic effects of the war and the impact of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
‘These claims are fictional’
“Secretary Hegseth did not mislead anyone about our munitions posture, and he did not blame Deputy Secretary Feinberg. These claims about depleted stockpiles, internal disagreements, the secretary’s position on Iran … are equally fictional,” Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell said.
In a July Senate hearing, Hegseth sparred with Democrats over whether he had provided Trump with honest assessments of the Iran war, including the risks that an extended campaign would pose for US military inventories.
During the hearing, Hegseth declined to discuss his advice to the president and repeatedly blamed any shortages on the Biden administration’s handling of the military, rather than on operations that occurred under Trump’s watch.
Hegseth, Feinberg and Joint Chiefs Chairman General Dan Caine have asked lawmakers to provide them with $US67 billion ($95 billion) in additional military funding to help cover the costs of the Iran war. Hegseth told congressional representatives in testimony last month that the request filled an “urgent, necessary” need to refill the military’s stockpiles.
Senate Republicans have yet to agree on a strategy to take up the package.
The administration’s overall defence budget request for the coming fiscal year is a record $US1.5 trillion and includes tens of billions of dollars to build missiles. But the proposal has stalled as Democrats object to the massive increase, leaving the Pentagon without a clear path to replenishing critical weaponry.
Ever since Signalgate, when Hegseth, just months after being confirmed to his role, sent classified information to a chat group that included a reporter, rumours have swirled about how long he would remain in Trump’s good graces. The president has consistently praised Hegseth, saying he looks straight out of “central casting” and that “he loves war”.
Since taking office, Trump has launched military operations in seven countries: Yemen, Somalia, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Nigeria and Venezuela.
The successful operation to capture former Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro appeared to further secure Hegseth’s position. But the stalemate over the Strait of Hormuz and the massive cost and length of the Iran war have eroded Trump’s confidence in him, one person familiar with the Camp David conversation said.
“Secretary Hegseth isn’t going anywhere, and he’s going to continue to work side by side with Deputy Secretary Feinberg to execute President Trump’s agenda,” Parnell said in response to questions about that exchange and the munitions depletion.
Stockpile pressures are not a new challenge. Before the war even started, Caine warned Trump that the US did not have the stockpiles necessary to sustain a prolonged conflict.
But the pace and sheer volume of munitions expended by both sides have rapidly accelerated the depletion of key US offensive and defensive munitions.
From February 28 to April 7, which marked the first day of the ceasefire, the US struck more than 13,000 targets in Iran. It has also defended against more than 8500 incoming Iranian munitions or drones.
The US launched Operation Epic Fury already facing shortfalls in critical munitions.
In the summer of 2025, it expended more than a quarter of its total inventory of THAAD interceptors during Israel’s 12-Day War and Operation Midnight Hammer, during which US forces struck Iran’s nuclear sites. The current conflict “has made those inadequacies even worse”, said Brad Bowman, an army veteran and senior director at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies.
While Hegseth and the Pentagon have announced numerous new industry framework agreements to rebuild the arsenal, defence firms “aren’t going to start bending metal until you have a contract and congressional appropriations”, Bowman said.
As a result, it could be years before the inventories are rebuilt. “We’re often talking years between spending what we need to spend, getting the contracts signed, and delivery,” he said. “You don’t just flip the switch, and suddenly the munition appears in the hands of the war fighter.”
The Washington Post
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