US War Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday publicly rejected a CNN report that the American military had exhausted nearly 80% of its THAAD interceptors and roughly half of its Patriot missile interceptors since the conflict with Iran began. In a post on X, Hegseth wrote: “That banner is NOT TRUE, @CNN. Shame on you. We don't hate the Fake News media enough.” The denial follows a CNN report that, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter, senior US military commanders have warned that Pentagon munitions stockpiles are “dangerously low,” with key air-defence systems severely depleted during operations linked to the war with Iran.

The CNN report, citing two sources with knowledge of the latest inventory, said the US military had used nearly four-fifths of its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors and about half of its Patriot interceptors since the start of the conflict. The network added that the steep decline in THAAD stocks had not previously been reported. The Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), cited in the report, estimated that before the war the United States possessed around 452 THAAD missiles and roughly 2,200 Patriot interceptors. A separate estimate from CSIS, reproduced in the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, gave a pre-war Patriot count of “well over 2,300” and suggested that by the end of July only up to 830 Patriots and up to 278 THAAD interceptors remained.

CNN further reported that concerns over shrinking interceptor inventories featured in discussions inside the Trump administration over whether to escalate military action against Iran, and that Gulf allies had voiced worries that US air-defence shortages could undermine their ability to repel Iranian missile or drone strikes if regional hostilities intensified. According to the report, those concerns — along with intelligence assessments about potential civilian casualties and threats to regional energy infrastructure — contributed to President Donald Trump’s decision over the weekend to suspend planned military strikes on Iran. The network also said the US Army had used “virtually all” of its highly accurate long-range surface-to-air weapons and that Tomahawk cruise-missile stocks had also been significantly reduced.

Pentagon and White House officials rejected any suggestion that US military capabilities were inadequate. Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell told CNN that the US military possesses “everything it needs to execute at the time and place of the President's choosing,” while White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said the armed forces have “more than enough munitions, ammo, and stockpiles to serve all of President Trump's strategic goals and beyond.” The dispute over the state of US missile-defence inventories is likely to remain a live issue as the Trump administration weighs further military options against Iran; no public timeline for a new inventory report or a decision on further strikes has been announced.