- White House rejects Trump-Hegseth clash reports as “fake news”.
- Trump-Hegseth clash, weapons shortages “equally fictional”: Pentagon.
- Iran denies any negotiations underway with Washington for deal.
President Donald Trump said on Thursday the United States has a vast supply of munitions and threatened those who suggested otherwise with jail terms as his frustration with the Iran war boiled over.
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 US as needed. Defence companies are building the largest number of plants and factories in our country’s history,” he said.
The Washington Post reported that Trump demanded answers about the munitions shortages from Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth last Friday, when they attended a cabinet meeting at the Camp David presidential retreat.
Trump told Hegseth that he thought the munitions issue “had been fixed,” the Post reported, citing two unidentified sources familiar with the exchange.
Trump railed against the media reports, threatening on Thursday that “the ‘leakers’ of these treasonous statements are being hunted down” and “Long term jail sentences will be sought!”
CNN also reported that shortages of long-range guided missiles and air-defence interceptors had affected Trump’s strategy in the conflict with Iran, with the US military having “nearly exhausted 80%” of its stock of THAAD interceptors.
The Post also said that the shortages led Trump to call off fresh strikes against Iran, despite having threatened to hit the Islamic republic “very hard”.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt branded coverage of the exchange with Hegseth “fake news!”
“I was at Camp David with President Trump and Secretary Hegseth. This literally never happened,” she wrote on X.
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the reports about Trump’s clash with Hegseth and the weapons shortages were “equally fictional.”
Iran’s foreign ministry has denied there are any negotiations underway with Washington, even as Trump said Tehran was keen for a deal.
