Trump reportedly questions Hegseth over shrinking US missile stockpiles amid Iran war

New Delhi: The US president, Donald Trump, reportedly confronted defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, at Camp David over concerns that the ongoing Iran war had sharply depleted America’s missile stockpiles, the Washington Post reported. The report said Trump questioned why he had not been fully informed about the extent of the munitions shortage.

As reported earlier by RNA, Reuters, citing three people familiar with internal US military data, reported that the US Army had used “virtually all” of its army tactical missile systems (ATACMS) and precision strike missiles (PrSM) during the conflict with Iran. The report said US Central Command (Centcom) replenished its operational requirements by drawing missiles from stockpiles stationed elsewhere in the world.

Reuters also cited an assessment by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), which estimated that about 65 per cent of the US Patriot interceptor missile inventory and at least 38 per cent of THAAD interceptor missiles had been used between February and July.

The report further said that nearly half of the US global stockpile of Tomahawk cruise missiles had been consumed since the start of the Iran war. However, Reuters noted that it could not independently verify that estimate.

The White House and the Pentagon had rejected suggestions that the reported drawdown had weakened US military readiness. Trump had said the US possessed “far more munitions than anyone in the world” and that American defence manufacturers were producing weapons at record levels while expanding manufacturing capacity. 

Pentagon spokesman, Sean Parnell, similarly maintained that the US military remained fully capable of carrying out any mission assigned by the president.

Trump later reiterated that position in a post on Truth Social, dismissing reports of dwindling missile stockpiles and asserting that the United States had “massive amounts of munitions”. He said defence companies were producing weapons at record levels and expanding manufacturing capacity to meet military requirements.

The post also turned to those accused of leaking information about US military inventories. Calling the disclosures “treasonous statements”, Trump said the alleged leakers were being “hunted down” and warned that his administration would seek long prison sentences for those responsible.

According to the Washington Post, Hegseth attributed the communication lapse to deputy defence secretary, Stephen Feinberg, saying Feinberg had failed to ensure the president was fully informed about the state of US missile inventories. The report added that shrinking stockpiles could restrict Washington’s military options if the conflict with Iran continues.

The Trump administration has categorically denied the report. White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, described the Washington Post report as “fake news”, saying she was at Camp David with Trump and Hegseth and that the alleged confrontation “literally never happened”. She added that the story had been circulated by someone seeking to “disparage the secretary” and said Trump “loves the secretary and thinks he’s doing a tremendous job.”