Trump believes head of Pentagon misled him over shortage of weapons for strikes on Iran: media

US President Donald Trump demanded an explanation from Pete Hegseth, head of the Pentagon, over a shortage of missiles, the Washington Post reports, citing informed sources.

“President Donald Trump’s frustration over the course of the war with Iran spilled over into a sharp exchange at Camp David last week: he demanded that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth explain why he had apparently been misled about a serious shortage of munitions, which now threatens to limit US military capabilities against Iran,” the report states.

According to the newspaper, Trump said he had believed the munitions shortage problem had already been resolved, but learned of a deficit of long-range guided missiles and air defense systems. Sources cited by the newspaper claim that the weapons shortage was one of the reasons the president held off on new large-scale strikes on Iran in recent days.

During the meeting at Camp David, Hegseth, according to sources cited by the outlet, rejected Trump’s accusations and placed responsibility for the situation on his deputy, Stephen Feinberg, saying that he had failed to provide the president with complete information about the state of reserves.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt denied this information on social media platform X, stating that nothing of the sort took place at the Camp David meeting. According to her, Trump believes Hegseth is doing a phenomenal job.

At the end of last week, the Pentagon requested an additional $67 billion from Congress to cover expenses related to the war with Iran and to replenish weapons stockpiles, some of which, according to CNN and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), have reached critically low levels. CSIS had earlier calculated that during the confrontation with Iran between February 27 and July 27, the US expended between 1,500 and 1,600 Patriot missiles and around 200 THAAD interceptors. As a result, Patriot stockpiles fell from 2,300 to approximately 760–830 units, while the THAAD arsenal decreased from 452 to 234–278 missiles, leading to a significant shortfall in air defense capabilities.