Arabic version: ترامب يهدد المسرّبين بسبب تقارير عن ذخائر إيران

According to Al Jazeera, United States President Donald Trump has vowed to pursue people leaking reports about depleted US weapons stockpiles during the US-Israeli war on Iran. Trump again denied that the United States faced a strategic disadvantage after five months of war, writing on Truth Social that the country had “massive amounts of ‘munitions,’ especially of certain types.”

Reuters and CBS News reported that the military had used nearly all of its offensive Army Tactical Missile Systems and Precision Strike Missiles. Experts said this could force reliance on riskier close-range and aerial attacks if escalation resumes. CNN also reported low supplies of Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense interceptors, for which experts said there is no viable short-term alternative.

Trump said weapons were being manufactured and shipped to the United States as needed, while defence contractors were building plants and factories. He provided no further details about weapons shipments from abroad. Japan and Germany are the only countries with licences to produce Patriot interceptors, and no other country produces THAAD interceptors. Experts have warned that restoring pre-war Patriot and THAAD levels could take at least three years, even with additional funding.

CNN said the military had depleted 80 percent of its pre-war THAAD interceptors and about half of its Patriot interceptors. The Center for Strategic and International Studies calculated on July 27 that the military had just more than a third of its Patriot interceptors and about half of its THAAD interceptors remaining. Retired US Marine Corps colonel Mark Cancian said the shortages were already affecting deterrence capabilities and warned: “If we run out of Patriots, then the missiles get through.”

In a separate post, Trump defended Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and rejected a Washington Post report that he had confronted Hegseth over munitions shortages. The newspaper reported that Hegseth blamed Deputy Secretary of Defense Stephen Feinberg for the shortages and for failing to keep Trump updated. Hegseth described the interceptor information as “not true.”