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The U.S. has burned through billions of dollars in munitions in the war with Iran
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Now the Pentagon's own watchdog says it's left America with strategic shortfalls
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and bottlenecks replacing them. In its first mandatory report on Operation Epic Fury
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the Pentagon inspector general puts the total cost of war at more than $33 billion through
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the end of June, more than $22 billion of that spent on munitions alone. The report says that
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heavy use has resulted in strategic inventory shortfalls and exposed bottlenecks in the U.S
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defense industry's ability to replenish them. The report also details losses of American military
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equipment, including four F-15s and as many as 30 MQ-9 Reaper drones destroyed, along with damage to
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an F-35 and seven KC-135 tankers. The Trump administration has pushed back on concerns
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about America's weapons stockpiles. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had previously called reports of a shortage, a, quote, manufactured story. And on Monday, President Trump posted on
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Truth Social that he had just received a report that the U.S. is producing, quote
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more exquisite and elite weapons than at any time in our history
