{"id":515,"date":"2026-07-29T10:41:26","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T10:41:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=515"},"modified":"2026-07-29T10:41:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T10:41:26","slug":"why-hegseth-and-trump-keep-contradicting-themselves-about-u-s-munitions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=515","title":{"rendered":"Why Hegseth and Trump keep contradicting themselves about U.S. munitions"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

As America\u2019s war with Iran enters its fifth month, the U.S. military is running out of munitions \u2014\u00a0or maybe it\u2019s not.<\/p>\n

Read more Comey asks judge to \u201886\u2019 seashells case, alleges he was surveilled at Trump\u2019s direction<\/a><\/p>\n

Over the weekend, NBC\u2019s Kristen Welker asked U.N. Ambassador Mike Waltz about press reports that President Donald Trump called off a major military strike against Iran because U.S. munitions stockpiles were depleted.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of our stockpiles were depleted because of Biden,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But, asked if he was acknowledging that stockpiles were depleted, Waltz said, \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Confused? Join the club. Since the beginning of this conflict, Trump administration officials have been performing this rhetorical tap dance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in very good shape,\u201d Trump said on Monday about America\u2019s munitions supply. But then he added that \u201cfor some of the more sophisticated stuff, we\u2019d certainly like to have more. Biden gave a lot of it away.\u201d<\/p>\n

But no one has flip-flopped on this topic quite like Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. In the first days of the Iran war, he declared that there was \u201cno shortage of munitions\u201d and that \u201cour munitions are full up.\u201d In April, however, he told lawmakers it would take months or years to replenish America\u2019s weapons supplies. In June, he went back to his earlier position, saying on CBS\u2019s \u201cFace the Nation\u201d that America\u2019s munitions \u201cstockpiles \u201care great, and they\u2019re only getting stronger.\u201d And last week, Hegseth couched the administration\u2019s Pentagon budget request of$1.5 trillion by attacking the Biden administration for \u201cfour years of underinvestment and mismanagement.\u201d<\/p>\n

If all of this seems contradictory, it\u2019s because it is. The Trump administration clearly wants to hide that it went to war with a diminished supply of weapons and now, as the conflict drags on, this precarious and completely foreseeable situation is directly influencing the administration\u2019s decision-making.<\/p>\n

Indeed, reports of diminished supplies started circulating well before the Iran war began. In July 2025, the Pentagon held up arms shipments to Ukraine over concerns that military stockpiles had declined too dramatically.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In February, days before the war began, The Washington Post reported that Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, cautioned Trump and his top aides that \u201cany major operation against Iran will face challenges because the U.S. munitions stockpile has been significantly depleted by Washington\u2019s ongoing defense of Israel and support for Ukraine.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Just this past April, the Pentagon asked Congress for a 42% increase in military spending to $1.5 trillion, with 52% of the total request focused on purchases of \u201cmunitions, planes, tanks and ships.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more Dylan Mulvaney had the perfect response to Trump\u2019s press gala joke<\/a><\/p>\n

In other words, the White House was well aware that munitions stockpiles were depleted. And Trump\u2019s team knew that, in an extended conflict, the shortfalls could impinge on the military\u2019s ability to wage war against Tehran. It\u2019s no wonder that now, the administration is seesawing between blaming former President Joe Biden for the problem and denying the problem exists at all.<\/p>\n

Even the Trump administration\u2019s criticism of the previous administration is highly dubious. U.S. stockpiles were declining before Trump took office, but the Trump administration has made the situation far worse.<\/p>\n

Upon his confirmation as defense secretary, Hegseth signed a directive removing constraints on overseas commanders to order airstrikes. At the time, CBS News described the move as an effort to give \u201ccommanders greater latitude to decide whom to target while relaxing the multi-layered centralized control former President Joe Biden implemented over airstrikes and raids by American special operation forces.\u201d On X, Hegseth linked to the CBS report with one word: \u201cCorrect.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the near-term, U.S. strikes on al-Shabab Islamic rebels in the Horn of Africa substantially increased. Moreover, Gen. Michael Kurilla, head of U.S. Central Command, asked for authority to conduct a long-term campaign against air defense systems of Houthi rebels in Yemen, followed by targeted assassinations. The Biden administration had denied Kurilla\u2019s request to escalate; Hegseth gave the go ahead.<\/p>\n

The subsequent air campaign used more than $200 million of munitions in the first three weeks alone. The attacks soaked up so many precision munitions that U.S. military planners grew concerned about dwindling supplies of weapons and the possible need to move long-range missiles from the Asia-Pacific region to the Middle East. Trump eventually pulled the plug on the operation in April with little to show for the massive use of military force.<\/p>\n

That sounds a lot like where things are heading with Iran \u2014\u00a0with none of the major U.S. objectives achieved and Iran, arguably, in a stronger strategic position than it was before the war. As in Yemen, the administration went to war against Iran without a good plan for success \u2014 only an incoherent belief that dropping enough bombs and killing enough people would solve everything.<\/p>\n

Along the same lines, the Post reported this week on a Drug Enforcement Administration assessment finding that U.S. airstrikes on drug boats, which have killed more than 220 alleged drug smugglers, \u201chad failed to affect the supply or price of cocaine in the United States and had led traffickers to diversify\u201d their smuggling tactics.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a consistent theme here: the Trump administration orders a ramp-up in military action \u2014 or, as Hegseth likes to call it, \u201clethality.\u201d The military efforts fail to achieve the stated military goals. Rinse, wash, repeat. No wonder the Trump administration wants to deny the obvious and blame everyone else for their problems \u2014 when it comes to fighting wars, they haven\u2019t got a clue.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump says the quiet part out loud on his midterms strategy<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Trump administration clearly wants to hide that it started a war with Iran despite having a diminished supply of weapons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Hegseth and Trump keep contradicting themselves about U.S. munitions - Long Distance Movers USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=515\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Hegseth and Trump keep contradicting themselves about U.S. munitions - Long Distance Movers USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Trump administration clearly wants to hide that it started a war with Iran despite having a diminished supply of weapons.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/longdistancemoversusas.com\/?p=515\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Long Distance Movers USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-29T10:41:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=515#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=515\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/0206dfa2bde56a4792f75b5b97027e43\"},\"headline\":\"Why Hegseth and Trump keep contradicting themselves about U.S. munitions\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-29T10:41:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=515\"},\"wordCount\":965,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=515#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/70136e2977ef91d7c800216e8782e06e.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"US\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=515#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=515\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/longdistancemoversusas.com\\\/?p=515\",\"name\":\"Why Hegseth and Trump keep contradicting themselves about U.S. munitions - 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