President Donald Trump warned Tuesday night that Iran would face a devastating military response if it walked away from nuclear negotiations again, telling Fox News that “the hard hit is yet to come” even as a new Reuters report reveals the U.S. military has burned through nearly all of its long-range precision missiles during five months of fighting with Tehran.
Speaking with Fox News anchor Trace Gallagher on “Special Report,” Trump was asked directly what would happen if Iran reneged on the current round of negotiations, as it has done multiple times since the war began in February. His answer was unambiguous.
“If they back out again, they are going to get hit really hard. They know that. They understand that. I have no choice. They can’t have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said. “It’s very simple. It’s not like, gee, let’s think about something else. No.”
The president went on to argue that stopping Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon was a task he had inherited from a long line of predecessors who failed to act. “It should have been done by many presidents over many years and it wasn’t. And I’m doing it,” he said, before pivoting to a lengthy attack on former President Barack Obama’s handling of Iran, a portion of the interview examined in a separate article.
Pressed further on the consequences of another Iranian reversal, Trump reiterated that the United States has already struck Iranian targets extensively but has held back its most severe option. “We hit them very, very hard. But the hard hit is yet to come and hopefully we won’t have to use it. I hope we won’t,” he said. “We’re having very good discussions. They don’t like to admit that, but you know it’s a little bit disconcerting.”
Trump also complained about mixed signals coming out of Tehran, describing a pattern in which Iranian officials publicly deny that talks are taking place even after direct engagement with U.S. counterparts. “You tell people, have wonderful discussions, and then some guy will come out of Iran and say, we have not met,” Trump said. “It’s just in July, all day long, you understand. It’s just incredible. They’ll say we didn’t talk about nuclear. Well, what did we talk about? Sitting here twiddling our thumbs, right? But it doesn’t matter. Let’s talk. The only thing that matters is action. And they want to make a deal, or see what happens.”
A Familiar Pattern: Threats, Then Reversals
Tuesday’s warning fits a pattern that has defined the conflict for months. Just days earlier, on Sunday, Trump said he had called off what he described as the “biggest attack since World War II” after Iranian officials called and asked to resume talks. It marked at least the second time in 2026 that Trump has publicly backed away from a planned large-scale strike after describing it in dramatic terms, following a similar sequence in April when the two sides agreed to a two-week ceasefire tied to reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has since rejected Trump’s characterization of the state of negotiations on multiple occasions, including as recently as this week, when Tehran disputed his claim that talks would resume.
Reports of a Depleted Missile Arsenal
Trump’s renewed threat of a “really hard” hit comes days after Reuters reported that the U.S. Army has used up nearly its entire global stockpile of long-range, highly accurate surface-to-surface missiles — the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) and the newer Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) — during the war with Iran. Citing three people familiar with internal data, the news agency reported the drawdown has raised concerns inside the administration about military readiness for future conflicts, including potential confrontations with Russia or China.
The same report found that stockpiles of defensive systems have also been significantly drawn down. A Center for Strategic and International Studies estimate cited by Reuters found that roughly 65% of the U.S. Patriot interceptor stockpile had been expended between February and July, and that THAAD interceptor supplies were at least 38% lower than they were at the start of the war. The Navy has also used a little less than half of its global supply of Tomahawk cruise missiles since fighting began, according to one of the sources.
Asked about the stockpile data, the White House pushed back forcefully. Trump said in a statement provided to Reuters that the United States had “far more munitions than anyone in the world” and “far more than we need,” adding that American defense manufacturers were producing munitions “at record levels.” Pentagon chief spokesperson Sean Parnell echoed that message, telling Reuters the U.S. military “has everything it needs to execute at the time and place of the President’s choosing.”
Not everyone inside the government agrees on why the U.S. has held off from launching the larger strike Trump described over the weekend. According to Reuters, several media outlets have reported that military advisers warned Trump against another massive offensive in part because of the strained stockpile, though one U.S. official disputed that account, telling Reuters the decision was instead driven by pressure from Gulf states.
Nuclear Talks Remain Unresolved
The strikes to date have taken place without a declaration of war or congressional authorization for the use of military force, a point that has fueled ongoing debate in Washington over the scope of Trump’s authority to continue the campaign. The current round of diplomacy traces back to a memorandum of understanding Trump signed with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in June, which reopened the Strait of Hormuz and launched a 60-day negotiating window on the nuclear question, but left the core issue of Iran’s atomic program unresolved. That window has already been extended amid repeated breakdowns, with Iran launching new attacks on shipping over the summer and both sides trading accusations of bad faith.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said this week that a deal to formally open the strait to unrestricted shipping could be reached “today or tomorrow,” even as Iranian officials publicly denied that direct negotiations were underway — the exact contradiction Trump referenced in his Fox News interview.
What Comes Next
For now, Trump’s message to Iran remains consistent with the position he has held publicly since the war began: further attacks are on the table, negotiators are talking behind the scenes regardless of what Tehran says in public, and the ultimate outcome depends on whether Iran abandons any pursuit of a nuclear weapon. Whether the “hard hit” he described materializes, or whether this round of talks results in another pause like the ones in April and this past weekend, is likely to become clearer in the days ahead as the 60-day negotiating clock continues to run.