Iran war leaves US munitions shortfall, watchdog says

The US war in Iran has left the United States with strategic munitions shortfalls and exposed bottlenecks in resupplying ammunition, the Defense Department’s inspector general told Congress.

In a mandatory report covering Operation Epic Fury from February 28 to June 30, the inspector general estimated the operation cost $33.4 billion. The report said $22.3 billion of that amount was spent on expended munitions.

The report said the munitions expenditure “has resulted in strategic inventory shortfalls and revealed industrial base bottlenecks for munitions resupply.”

It also listed losses and damage to US forces, including four F-15 aircraft destroyed, one F-35 damaged, seven KC-135 tanker aircraft damaged and up to 30 MQ-9 Reaper drones destroyed.

President Donald Trump has dismissed concerns about depleted weapons stocks. He said recently that the United States has “virtually unlimited” ammunition and wrote on Truth Social on Monday that the country is producing “more Exquisite and Elite Weapons than at any time in our History.”

CNN previously reported that shortages of long-range guided missiles and air-defense interceptors had affected Trump’s strategy in the conflict with Iran, and that the US military had “nearly exhausted 80%” of its THAAD interceptor stock.

US Central Command has said the United States struck more than 1,000 targets in the first 24 hours of the war against Iran. The inspector general’s report said Iranian strikes damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings and structures at US bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan, but did not include those costs in its estimate.