Just days before the Iran war began, the United States’ top military official, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, expressed misgivings.
One of Caine’s biggest concerns? How war with Iran could further deplete munitions stockpiles that had already been reduced by helping Ukraine and Israel in their wars in recent years, The Washington Post and CNN reported.
That warning is looking increasingly prescient and pivotal, as the Trump administration struggles to wind down a war that has lasted much longer than it previewed.
But the administration is struggling to reconcile exactly where things stand on the all-important issue of munitions.
On the one hand, it has claimed the US has more than enough munitions — even that Trump has vastly increased the munitions and that the number is “unlimited.” On the other, it has blamed the Biden administration for depleting the stockpiles and asked for a ton of money to help replenish them, while warning about shortfalls if Congress fails to provide it.
