Trump Just Dismissed Munitions Shortage Claims in the Iran Conflict — and His Top Diplomat Backed Him Hard

President Donald Trump rejected reports that the United States is running short on munitions for operations against Iran, telling the Wall Street Journal the military has “far more munitions than anyone in the world, and far more than we need.”

The comments pushed back against New York Times and other reporting that declining stocks of Patriot and air-defense interceptors factored into internal deliberations over expanding the campaign. Diplomatic efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz remain underway.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz reinforced the message on NBC’s Meet the Press and Fox News Sunday. “The U.S. military, and I’ve verified this every which way, has everything that it needs to conduct this campaign as effectively as it needs to be,” he said.

Waltz added that leakers of such concerns “deserve to be in jail,” while acknowledging that prior support for Ukraine and operations against the Houthis had strained some inventories before Trump took office. He said the administration is rebuilding stockpiles and shifting toward newer, less expensive munitions.

Military planners had prepared an expanded campaign that could have lasted up to two weeks before Trump opted to give diplomacy more time. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine informed officials about lower interceptor inventories, assessing increased operational risk but not an inability to conduct renewed operations if ordered.

CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper recommended ending the current bombing campaign around the Strait of Hormuz unless the United States intended a broader operation, saying most designated targets had already been exhausted. An informal “quiet for quiet” understanding is reported to be holding while negotiations continue through regional mediators.

Trump has kept pressure on, sharing AI-generated images of potential strikes and stating the military remains “locked and loaded.” He has said he would resume full-scale operations “if we don’t get 100% of what we want, absolutely.”