President Donald Trump warns leakers of ‘treasonous statements’ about the US military’s allegedly dwindling munitions supply ‘are being hunted down’
President Donald Trump has threatened jail time for anyone who leaks information about U.S. munitions supplies following reports that the military is running dangerously low on several types of missiles after months of war with Iran.
U.S. burning through missiles
The White House has denied that the conflict, now in its sixth month, has depleted U.S. stockpiles of critical weapons, including ground-launched missiles used to strike deep inside Iran and interceptor missiles needed to defend against Iranian ballistic missiles.
Despite increased military spending and new weapons factories, air defense missiles and other sophisticated munitions can take years to replace.
The U.S. has burned through most of its available long-range, precision missiles, according to reports, prompting concerns about the military’s ability to effectively confront Russia or China in another potential conflict.
The Army has used up “virtually all” of two advanced long-range weapons — Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) and Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM) — Reuters reported.
Donald Trump goes after ‘leakers’
The report followed claims that Trump canceled a planned two-week strike campaign against Iran in late July partly because of concerns about U.S. munitions stockpiles.
Trump pushed back, insisting the U.S. possesses “massive amounts” of munitions and would soon receive “large” quantities of newly manufactured missiles.
“The ‘leakers’ of these treasonous statements are being hunted down,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Long-term jail sentences will be sought!”
The U.S., Israel and other Washington-allied militaries in the Middle East used nearly 11,300 munitions during just the first 16 days of the war beginning February 28, according to the Payne Institute for Public Policy.
The THAAD system
Although military stockpiles are closely guarded, Payne Institute analysts estimated in late March that the U.S. was about one month away from exhausting its ATACMS and PrSM inventories, along with interceptor missiles for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system.
THAAD is among the few systems capable of intercepting Iranian ballistic missiles.
The U.S. had approximately 452 THAAD interceptors before the war but potentially just 234 remaining by the end of July, according to estimates from the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
CSIS also estimated the U.S. possessed roughly 2,330 Patriot air defense interceptors before the conflict. By July 27, that stockpile might have fallen to as few as 759.