Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey said President Trump’s continuation of the Iran war threatens the country’s broader military readiness, pointing to warnings dating back to May that U.S. ammunition stockpiles were running critically low.
“In his ideal world, Trump would prolong his war for as long as he’d like, but there have been warnings as far back as May that our ammunition stockpiles are running critically low,” Pallone wrote on X. “Trump’s forever war in Iran is not only irrational and illegal, it also jeopardizes America’s defense against major adversaries such as China and Russia.”
Pallone’s May reference tracks with a wave of reporting that month on the state of U.S. munitions stockpiles. Sen. Mark Kelly, a former Navy captain, told CBS’s Face the Nation in May that it could take “years” to replenish stockpiles of Tomahawks, Patriots and other long-range munitions depleted by the war, citing a Defense Department briefing he had received. NBC News separately reported that month that the Pentagon had not signed new contracts to replenish its munitions supplies even as stocks pushed to what officials described as dangerously low levels. A Time magazine report the same month noted that Patriot interceptors originally intended for Ukraine had been redirected to the Middle East, worsening an existing shortage for Kyiv.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies has tracked the depletion closely throughout the war. A CSIS analysis published in April found the U.S. had already expended roughly half of at least four of its most critical munitions categories since the war began Feb. 28. By July, CSIS senior adviser Mark Cancian told CNN that continued strikes at the recent pace “would reduce stockpiles enough that there would be a new, higher level of risk with the Indo-Pacific,” referring to the region where the U.S. maintains deterrence commitments against China. Cancian said the Pentagon was receiving replenishment at a rate of only about 15 new Tomahawks and 20 new Patriot missiles per month, with no THAAD interceptor deliveries forecast for the remainder of 2026, and estimated it would take three or more years to rebuild stockpiles to pre-war levels.
A subsequent Washington Post report found the shortage had grown severe enough that a U.S. official warned American forces lacked sufficient THAAD interceptors to safely sustain the air campaign against Iran, and that the White House itself may not fully grasp the extent of the depletion. The scale of the gap is reflected in the administration’s own budget request: a Congressional Research Service report shows the Pentagon requested $1.45 trillion for fiscal year 2027, a 44 percent increase over the prior year, with the request seeking 857 THAAD interceptors and 785 Tomahawk cruise missiles, compared with just 55 of each funded for fiscal year 2026.
Virginia Burger, a senior defense policy analyst at the watchdog group Project on Government Oversight and a former Marine officer, said Pentagon officials likely understood the risk before the war began. “Pentagon officials knew the reality of our military stockpiles and hopefully told someone, ‘Hey, if we go to this fight, even in the most conservative estimates, we are drawing down our stockpiles to a critical level,'” Burger told PBS News.
Pallone’s tweet came the same weekend that U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz addressed the pause in strikes on Iran following 13 consecutive days of bombing. “What the president is doing right now, as we’ve seen all along, is giving talks some space,” Waltz said on NBC’s Meet the Press, according to Washington Post reporting on the interview. Waltz disputed that munitions concerns drove the pause, saying “the U.S. military, and I’ve verified this every which way, has everything that it needs to conduct this campaign” effectively.
The Post reported that despite the Pentagon’s public dismissal of stockpile concerns, current and former officials have expressed far greater anxiety about the issue in private, arguing the military urgently needs additional funding to replenish munitions, including to maintain deterrence against China and Russia.
Pallone, the Ranking Member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, has previously criticized the war’s costs and its effect on domestic priorities, saying in a separate statement following the deaths of American troops that “this war has never had any rationale and every life lost is without reason.”
Waltz said Sunday that Iran should not interpret the pause as a sign of weakness. “The U.S. military is locked and loaded,” Waltz said. “In fact, more assets have gone into the region.” He added that Iran’s government remained internally divided over how to proceed in talks, describing “internal fighting” between factions loyal to the supreme leader and others seeking a different approach.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has sought $87.6 billion in supplemental funding from Congress, including $21 billion specifically for munitions replenishment, while separately telling lawmakers in June that “our stockpiles are great, and they’re only getting stronger,” a characterization some senators, including Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, have said understates shortfalls the committee has known about “for some time.” House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee Chairman Ken Calvert said in an official committee statement that “recent conflicts have highlighted the pressing need to acquire and produce the munitions, weapons, and technology our troops require to meet the moment in both modern and future warfare,” as the House’s own FY27 defense bill moved forward with expanded multiyear munitions procurement authority.
Neither the White House nor the Pentagon has issued a direct public response to Pallone’s statement.