Trump, ‘exasperated’ with Iran war, bashed Hegseth over munition shortages – reports

President’s team can’t agree on path forward, report says, as official warns US risking ‘strategic defeat’; Trump says talks ‘going well,’ but Iran says it’s only speaking to Oman

US President Donald Trump clashed with his defense secretary last week, accusing Pete Hegseth of misleading the White House about the state of American munitions stockpiles amid a potential return to major combat operations in Iran, according to a Wednesday report.

The exchange took place at Camp David, The Washington Post reported, on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting. According to the report, which cited two people familiar with the exchange, Trump told Hegseth he thought the problem – a shortage of long-range and interceptor missiles – “had been fixed.”

CNN reported Wednesday that the US military has used up close to 80 percent of its interceptors for the THAAD anti-ballistic missile defense system and approximately 50% of its Patriot interceptors, leaving the supply of those munitions “dangerously low.”

When confronted about the problem, Hegseth punted the blame to his deputy, Stephen Feinberg, the Post report said.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt denied the story completely, telling the Post it was: “100% fake news. Literally never happened. And President Trump has the utmost confidence in Secretary Hegseth.”

Likewise, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said: “Secretary Hegseth did not mislead anyone about our munitions posture, and he did not blame Deputy Secretary Feinberg.”

“These claims about depleted stockpiles, internal disagreements, the Secretary’s position on Iran… are equally fictional,” he said.

Trump himself also addressed the reports on Thursday, insisting the United States has a vast supply of munitions and threatening those who suggested otherwise with jail terms.

The Republican leader lashed out on his Truth Social platform at media reports about the dwindling weapons stockpile, saying that the United States has “massive amounts of ‘munitions’ especially of certain types,” without giving further detail.

“Additionally, large amounts are being manufactured and shipped to the U.S. as needed. Defense companies are building the largest number of plants and factories in our country’s history,” he said.

The Post’s reporting on the Trump-Hegseth exchange came as NBC News also reported Trump lashed out at his aides last week. It was not immediately clear whether NBC was referring to the same Camp David cabinet meeting.

Despite public displays of satisfaction with how the US-Iran war is going, neither Trump nor his top aides are pleased with the status quo, a US official told the network.

His aides also can’t agree on a path forward, the source continued, adding: “After all this time, there is no unity.”

“The president is exasperated,” a Trump ally who has spoken with the president in recent weeks told NBC News.

“I don’t think he believed it was going to be this difficult to get the Iranians to agree to a deal. There was not a real strategy for how long or what they should do to get to the endpoint,” the Trump ally added.

“He did not intend this to be a long, drawn-out war.”

Leavitt denied that Trump lost his temper. “This is false. The president has a great team whom he trusts, and everyone on the team knows he’s the final decision-maker,” she said.

The lack of clarity on the administration’s goals for the war — whether it’s preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, ensuring the Strait of Hormuz is open, or destroying Iran’s missile and drone programs — has made planning an endgame difficult, the US official said.

The military has been preparing for a renewed major offensive without clear guidance, the US official told NBC News.

“We have had a series of tactical victories,” the official said. “But are facing a strategic defeat without clear policy guidance or a decision about where this is going.”

Parnell told NBC News in a statement that the Defense Department is “locked and loaded, ready to execute the president’s directives at a moment’s notice.”

“Secretary Hegseth, CENTCOM Commander Admiral Cooper, and Chairman Caine stand completely aligned and are united in mission, strategy, and resolve regarding overseas operations involving Iran,” he added.

Trump has repeatedly threatened large-scale strikes on Iran but then backed off, citing progress in talks. On Monday, he said the US and Iran were in the midst of talks that could see the Strait of Hormuz fully reopened.

Asked about the talks, Trump told a Fox affiliate on Wednesday, “I hear they’re doing very well.”

“Iran called me. They didn’t want the biggest attack since World War II. And we said, ‘Hey, I’d rather do it that way. I’m not looking to kill people and totally obliterate everything.’ And that’s where we were headed. And they wanted to negotiate and we’re doing that and it seems to be working out quite well,” he said.

Asked why he thought this round of negotiations would be different, when previous talks – even those that led to an agreement – have failed to resolve the conflict, Trump said: “It may be and it may not be.”

Returning to the attack he called off, the US president said a resumption of fighting “was more than a threat. We were ready to go, and you know, in life they know when you’re ready to go and when you’re just bluffing.”

“No, we were ready to go – and we are ready to go, if we have to do that,” he said.

Iran said Wednesday that no talks with the US have been held in recent days, but that it was finalizing a deal with Oman regarding the Strait of Hormuz that could restore the ceasefire.

Officials who were briefed on the negotiations portrayed the agreement as a temporary solution to the dispute over the strait, but said it would pave the way for the US and Iran to resume negotiations on Tehran’s nuclear program, a key reason cited by the US and Israel when launching the war at the end of February.

The most recent round of fighting between the US and Iran, which began about a month ago, has centered on access to the strait, which Iran has obstructed, and which was a key pathway for the global supply of oil and gas before the war.

Agencies contributed to this report.