The president says the ammunition is unlimited. The estimates say two thirds of it is gone.
On September 3, the president posted that the United States has virtually unlimited amounts of mid to high grade ammunition, and that it is producing munitions at levels never seen before. In the same post he called the reporters covering the shortage the treasonous scum that refuses to accurately report, and said they want the country to lose the war.
The Washington Examiner carried the post. The numbers underneath it come from somewhere else.
What the estimate says
A Center for Strategic and International Studies analysis dated July 27 found the United States entered the Iran war, which began February 28, with roughly 2,330 Patriot interceptors. It estimates that between 759 and 827 remain. That is about a third left, and it is the basis for saying two thirds are gone.
The same analysis puts THAAD interceptors down from about 452 before the war to between 234 and 278. Roughly half.
One document, not three
This is worth being careful about. Both the Washington Examiner and Al Jazeera cite the same July CSIS report for those figures. Two outlets carrying a number is not two independent findings of it. There is one estimate here, and it is an estimate rather than an inventory.
The second time
This was not the first treasonous. On August 6, following a Reuters report that the United States had used virtually all of its global supply of Patriot and THAAD interceptors, the president called similar reporting treasonous statements and said leakers would face long-term jail sentences.
Days before that, Al Jazeera reported, citing Washington Post reporting, that he had confronted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth privately during a cabinet meeting and accused him of misleading him by claiming the munitions shortage had been fixed. The White House's own release places that cabinet meeting at Camp David on July 31, with Hegseth present.
So the sequence runs: the shortage is reported, the reporting is called treasonous, and in between the president tells his own defense secretary he was lied to about it.
Al Jazeera reports that rebuilding depleted Patriot and THAAD stocks is expected to take multiple years even with new defense-contractor agreements. The war is not over.
By the numbers
- 2,330 to about 800 — US Patriot interceptors before the Iran war and the CSIS estimate of what remains, between 759 and 827[1]
- 452 to about 250 — THAAD interceptor stocks before the war and the CSIS estimate of what remains, between 234 and 278[2]
- August 6 — the first time the president called reporting on the munitions shortage treasonous, following a Reuters report on depleted interceptor supply[3]
- July 31 — the Camp David cabinet meeting where the president confronted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over the shortage[4]
The reporting
This story is built on reporting by Washington Examiner. Read the original →
Sources
- Washington Examiner, Trump calls reporters treasonous scum over munitions shortage
- 19FortyFive, CSIS estimates on US Patriot interceptor stocks
- Al Jazeera, Trump calls media treasonous scum over reports of low Iran war munitions
- Al Jazeera, Trump vows to find leakers after reports of depleted Iran war munitions
- The White House, President Trump hosts cabinet meeting at Camp David
Image credits
- Hero: source (US Army photo, public domain) — Sgt. Christopher Neu
- Patriot: source (US Air Force photo, public domain) — Airman 1st Class Maeson Elleman
- Cabinet: source (Official White House Photo, public domain) — Daniel Torok