President Donald Trump brushed away concerns on Monday and Tuesday that the United States’s operation in Iran is impacting critical munition stockpiles.
U.S. troops hit more than 1,700 targets across the country of Iran during the first 72 hours of the ongoing conflict, U.S. Central Command said on Tuesday. Simultaneously, American troops in several Gulf States have also come under attack from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces and defended themselves from hundreds of incoming missiles and drones.
“The United States Munitions Stockpiles have, at the medium and upper medium grade, never been higher or better — As was stated to me today, we have a virtually unlimited supply of these weapons,” the president wrote on Truth Social. “Wars can be fought ‘forever,’ and very successfully, using just these supplies (which are better than other countries’ finest arms!). At the highest end, we have a good supply, but are not where we want to be.”
He reiterated those comments in the Oval Office on Tuesday, stating, “We have unlimited middle and upper ammunition, which is really what we’re using in this war. We have really an unlimited supply.”
Trump has said in recent days he believes the joint U.S. and Israeli operation against Iran will likely go on for roughly four to five weeks.
The U.S. has utilized both the Patriot interceptor missile systems and the THAAD anti-ballistic missile systems to defend against incoming Iranian projectiles, CENTCOM said. The U.S. has seemingly had a harder time defending against incoming drones, which often fly at lower altitudes and are more maneuverable.
“Our integrated air and missile defense network is performing exactly as it’s intended. U.S. Patriot and THAAD batteries along with ballistic missile defense-capable Navy destroyers continue to coordinate and execute intercepts with precision and consistency,” Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Staff, said on Monday. “Collectively, these systems have intercepted hundreds of ballistic missiles targeting U.S. forces, our partners, and regional stability.”
Six U.S. troops were killed in an Iranian drone attack in Kuwait, and senior U.S. leaders have warned they expect additional casualties.
Despite the president’s remarks, there haev been concerns about America’s air defense stockpiles prior to the new conflict in the Middle East.
The U.S. Armed Forces have been involved periodically in coming to Israel’s defense against previous Iranian attacks since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack in Israel put the region on a war path.
The Pentagon is racing to replenish stocks of Patriot and Standard Missile interceptors and more broadly to reinvigorate the entire defense industrial base. War Secretary Pete Hegseth has traveled across the country in recent weeks to meet with defense industry leaders at manufacturing plants.
HOW THE IRAN CONFLICT WAS LAUNCHED: ‘OPERATION EPIC FURY IS APPROVED. NO ABORTS. GOOD LUCK’
In early 2025, the Pentagon conducted a review of its weapons stockpiles amid concerns that aiding Israel and Ukraine had come at the expense of U.S. military readiness.
Following destructive wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the War Department in the last half-decade had sought to pivot its focus away from the Middle East and toward the Pacific region, where China is the dominant threat to the U.S.
