The Pentagon's inspector general has found that the war with Iran caused munitions "shortfalls" and a bottleneck in resupply, contradicting 
Donald Trump, who has repeatedly denied the US is facing shortages. The independent watchdog found the US spent more than $22 billion on munitions from February through June, leading to "strategic inventory shortfalls", the BBC reported. The report offers a first-of-its-kind independent glimpse into US weapons stockpile data that is typically classified.
What did the report find? It did not disclose exactly how many weapons remain, but it identified "industrial base bottlenecks" for munitions resupply. The Defense Department is now working to "streamline procurement processes and production lead times" to address the shortages and "respond rapidly to a contingency", the report added. Equipment losses totalled $3.7bn, with another $7.4bn in other expenditures. Overall, the US spent $33.4bn on the war from 28 February to 30 June.
How has the White House responded? It rejected the watchdog's assessment. "The United States military has more than enough munitions, ammo, and stockpiles to serve all of the Commander-in-Chief's strategic goals and beyond," spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement on Tuesday. Trump, who has called reporting on shortages "fake news", said in a 3 September Truth Social post that the US had "virtually unlimited" ammunition and was "stockpiling and preparing for any contingency that could happen". Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described news reporting on the shortages as "not true" in an X post on 4 August.
What do other estimates show? A late-July estimate from the Center for Strategic and International Studies found stocks of some interceptors, such as the Patriot missile and THAAD, significantly depleted, in some cases by more than half, the BBC reported. A separate Congressional Budget Office estimate released on Tuesday put the war's total cost higher, at $38bn, including replacing expended munitions and lost equipment, increased flying hours and greater fuel costs. Losses in the war have included four F-15E fighter jets, an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and 30 MQ-9 drones destroyed in "various circumstances".
Figures referenced: Donald Trump. — JudgeMarket.
