President Donald Trump dismissed reports that the United States is running short on munitions for the conflict with Iran, telling the Wall Street Journal on Sunday that the U.S. military has “far more munitions than anyone in the world, and far more than we need” as his administration continued weighing diplomacy alongside the possibility of renewed military escalation.
Trump’s comments pushed back against reports from the New York Times and other outlets that concerns over declining stocks of Patriot and other air defense interceptors factored into internal deliberations over whether to expand the U.S. military campaign against Iran, even as the administration has emphasized that diplomatic efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz remain underway.
Appearing on NBC’s Meet the Press and Fox News Sunday, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz reinforced Trump’s message, declaring that “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,” while insisting Trump is “keeping all options on the table” as he gives negotiations “some space” to continue.
“I have to tell you, the people that are leaking this nonsense deserve to be in jail,” Waltz said on Meet the Press, while acknowledging that years of military support for Ukraine and operations against the Houthis had strained some inventories before President Donald Trump took office. Waltz argued the administration is rebuilding stockpiles while shifting toward newer, less expensive munitions and other emerging technologies.
Speaking on Fox News, Waltz said the administration’s military campaign had focused on degrading Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping and regional stability, arguing that “the Iranian regime is isolated, economically devastated, militarily devastated,” and adding that Tehran was beginning to struggle financially, including paying government workers and members of its military.
The administration’s public defense of its military readiness follows reports that Trump postponed a planned expansion of the U.S. air campaign after meeting Friday with senior advisers, amid a broader debate over the costs and risks of escalating the conflict while diplomatic efforts continued.
According to the Wall Street Journal on Sunday, U.S. military planners had prepared an expanded campaign that could have lasted up to two weeks before Trump opted to allow diplomacy additional time. The newspaper reported that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine informed senior officials about declining inventories of Patriot and other air defense interceptors, while assessing that lower stockpiles would increase operational risk but would not prevent renewed military operations if Trump ordered them.
Separate reporting by Axios on Sunday said U.S. Central Command commander Adm. Brad Cooper recommended ending the current bombing campaign around the Strait of Hormuz unless the United States intended to transition into a broader military operation, concluding that the existing campaign had largely achieved its objectives and that most designated targets associated with those strikes had already been exhausted.
Axios also reported that Cooper believed any renewed large-scale campaign could focus on the remaining designated military targets not struck during the U.S.-Israeli operation, while Trump’s Middle East envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, continued direct and indirect negotiations with Iranian officials through regional mediators. The report added that the sides had reached an informal “quiet for quiet” understanding under which neither side would launch new attacks so long as the current lull holds, while Oman continued efforts to broker an agreement concerning the Strait of Hormuz, though there was no guarantee Trump would ultimately accept such an arrangement.
Trump has continued signaling that diplomacy remains his preferred outcome while refusing to rule out renewed military action. Before Friday’s White House meeting, he told reporters, “Look, we’re locked and loaded. We’re ready to go, but we’re talking to them, so maybe there will be, maybe there won’t be a tipping point.”
In a separate interview with Axios last week, Trump said he was considering “a massive attack” against Iran that would be “bigger than ever before,” while adding that the military was prepared if diplomacy failed. In a phone interview Saturday with a reporter from French outlet LCI, Trump also said he would resume full-scale military operations “if we don’t get 100% of what we want, absolutely.”
Trump continued projecting military pressure Sunday by sharing a series of AI-generated images on Truth Social depicting strikes against Iranian energy and maritime targets, including one captioned “STRIKE ON KHARG,” an apparent reference to Iran’s principal oil export terminal on Kharg Island, along with several other posts emphasizing continued pressure on Tehran even as negotiations remain underway.
Joshua Klein is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jklein@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaKlein.