US officials push back on reports of dangerously low munitions supplies

The White House and Pentagon have pushed back on a slate of recent reports indicating that supplies of both offensive and defensive weapons have dropped dangerously low after five months of war on Iran.

Experts have said that low supplies of air defence interceptors, particularly those used in Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) air defence systems, may pose a particular threat to US forces, with knock-on effects for allies in the region and beyond.

But in a statement provided to Al Jazeera on Tuesday by the White House, President Donald Trump pushed back on claims the US faced deficiencies in its current supply.

“We have far more munitions than anyone in the world, and far more than we need, despite the fact that an unprecedented amount was given away by Crooked Joe Biden and the Biden Administration to Ukraine and Europe at no cost, in one of many of their extremely dumb moves,” Trump said. He was referencing the Patriot interceptor transfers to Ukraine under former President Joe Biden following Russia’s invasion.

Trump pointed to new efforts to scale up weapons production, although experts have questioned whether supplies of air defence missiles could indeed be scaled up in a timely fashion.

“And as we build up, we will start issuing more to our allies in Europe and elsewhere,” Trump said.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell also maintained that the US was not in dire straits on the issue.

“America’s military is the most powerful in the world and has everything it needs to execute at the time and place of the President’s choosing,” Parnell said in a statement to Al Jazeera.

“We have executed multiple successful operations across combatant commands while ensuring the US military possesses a deep arsenal of capabilities to protect our people and our interests.”

Reports of shortages

Several reports on Monday indicated that the situation may be more pronounced than US officials have publicly said.

CNN, for instance, reported that the US military had depleted 80 percent of the THAAD interceptors it had prior to the war and about half of its Patriot interceptors. Sources described the levels as “dangerously low”.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth swiftly contested the 80 percent figure and the characterisation of the threat it posed, posting “not true” and “shame on you” on X on Monday.

In an analysis published by the Washington, DC-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) on July 27, the think tank calculated that, as of that date, the military had just more than a third of its Patriot interceptors left and about half of its THAAD interceptors.

CSIS has assessed that it would take at least three years, even with a recent flurry of funding, to bring supplies to pre-war levels.

The Reuters news agency and CBS News separately reported that the military has used the majority of its Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) and Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM).

Unlike the Patriot and THAAD interceptors, the highly accurate long-range missiles are used in offensive attacks. Two sources told Reuters that “virtually all” the missiles, which cost about $1m each, had been used.

No Trump administration official has publicly acknowledged any threats posed by munition shortages, despite the fact the administration has requested $95bn in its Fiscal Year 2027 defence budget and $21bn in a supplemental funding request to replenish its stores.

Multiple media reports have indicated that Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has repeatedly raised concerns behind closed doors. The New York Times reported in late July that concerns over weapons supplies were at least one factor in Trump’s decision to back away from an even greater escalation that month.

That came after a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Washington and Tehran that had brought a halt to fighting in June collapsed, leading to nearly two weeks of attacks from both sides.

Shortage implications

Experts say shortages in both offensive and defensive weapons could leave US forces less secure.

Shortages of offensive ATACMs and PrSM degrade the army’s ability to launch strikes from afar, requiring closer-range attacks that are more likely to put forces in peril, according to Mark Cancian, a retired US Marine Corps colonel and senior adviser with CSIS.

“For ATACMS and PrSM, if you run low or out, then you would have to use some other mechanism, and that would be air-delivered or sea-delivered, so you’re talking probably Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM) or Tomahawk to strike a deep target, or having aircraft fly over enemy territory,” Cancian said.

“It’s more dangerous, and you really have to beat down any air defence system,” he added.

The shortages of air defence interceptors, however, are “much more serious”, Cancian said.

“When we talk about missile defence… we don’t have that many left, and there are no good substitutes,” Cancian said. “If we run out of Patriots, then the missiles get through.”

Such concerns were underscored by a July 17 attack on the Muwaffaq Salti airbase in Jordan, in which three US soldiers were killed when Iranian missiles were able to slip through US military and Jordanian air defence systems.

To be sure, after five months of war, Iran’s military capabilities remain unclear, but it is unlikely Tehran would be able to fully exhaust remaining US interceptors in the short term, Cancian assessed.

However, with the current level of US stockpiles, every interception of an Iranian strike weakens US deterrence capabilities against military powers like China.

“Every missile that’s used is one fewer that’s available to deter China”, Cancian said, “and we are now at a point where the joint staff are really very nervous about that”.

Meanwhile, NBC News, among other US media, has reported that the military has already taken a more judicious approach to intercepting Iranian attacks deemed unlikely to cause major harm. The strategy can help to preserve interceptors, but can also increase the chances of miscalculation.

‘The problem is time’

The reported US air defence shortages also raise concerns for Washington’s allies.

The US sells patriot missiles and, to a lesser degree, THAAD interceptors, to allies in the Middle East.

In May, the Trump administration announced an additional $25bn in Patriot interceptor sales and related services to Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. It has also long provided the weapons to Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel.

There have already been reported delays in offensive weapons deliveries to US allies in Europe and Asia, although no air defence delays have yet been reported to allies in the Middle East.

“That will almost certainly change”, Cancian said, “and the US will endeavour to hold more of the interceptor back to replenish our own stockpiles”.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been warning of a dwindling supply of Patriot interceptors to block Russian attacks. He has repeatedly sought US approval to produce the weapons in Ukraine, a permission only Japan and Germany currently have.

On Wednesday, Zelenskyy said that allies have supplied Kyiv with far fewer air defence interceptors in 2026, accounting for just a third of the deliveries from the same period last year.

Even with an influx of funding, Cancian said the near-term shortages of US interceptors will not be swiftly resolved.

“Money will not be a problem,” he said. “The problem is time.”