Angry Trump reportedly confronted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in recent days, accusing the Pentagon of misleading him about critical munitions shortages that render Trump increasingly helpless in the five-month-old war, following reports that US forces have “used up virtually all” of their precision, long-range missiles in fruitless attempts to first trigger an Iranian regime change and then to compel Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz.
Anger flared up at Trump’s cabinet meeting on Friday at Camp David, according to anonymous individuals reported by the Washington Post who were worried about retaliation. It seems that Trump was misled into thinking that the weapon scarcity “had been fixed” when in fact it is still very much an ongoing issue.
Mr.Rump aka Trump Is In Trouble And So Are The America People…
Hegseth attempted to deflect responsibility from himself and place it on Steve Feinberg, a billionaire Republican donor whom Trump removed from his position as co-CEO of Cerberus Capital Management to become the number-two at the Pentagon, according to “multiple officials” who had apparently had enough with the Fox News commentator who had suddenly become the defense secretary. There were rumors that Hegseth had blamed Feinberg for the shortages and Trump’s lack of information.
The officials claimed that Trump was growing more and more irritated with Hegseth, whom they said was a strong advocate for going to war with Iran and convinced Trump that the conflict would be won easily and swiftly. We are now six months into the conflict, which the government had originally predicted would last no more than three or four weeks.
In the Gulf, Iran has unleashed mayhem on US and ally forces with its superior missile technology and its large fleet of affordable drones. The Iranian people have rallied behind the Islamic regime despite its flaws, after being hammered by a shock and awe campaign that included multiple incidents involving mass casualties among innocent people, including scores of elementary schoolgirls. At least 18 American service members have died, hundreds more have been injured, and the war’s cost has now surpassed $100 billion.
Sources told the Washington Post that both the Pentagon and the White House rejected the story. You can’t trust this news at all. Totally did not occur. The Post was informed by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt that Trump has the highest regard for Secretary Hegseth. In a broader sense, Pentagon top spokesman Sean Parnell dismissed as “fictional” “claims about depleted stockpiles, internal disagreements, and the Secretary’s position on Iran.” Concerning Hegseth’s future with the company, Parnell stated that he “isn’t going anywhere.”
The US weapons problem is much worse than first thought, according to a Reuters article from Tuesday. Specifically, reports indicate that there is a significant shortage of Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) and Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM). “Washington has used virtually all of these weapons,” two sources told Reuters, after previous reports and studies that raised concerns about diminishing missile stocks due to the Iran war and the years-long process of arming Ukraine. The persistent issue of low supplies of Patriot defense missiles has also been in the news.
It was widely believed over the weekend that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman urged Trump to hold off on launching “the biggest attack since World War II” because he was afraid a large attack would only lead to devastating retaliation against the kingdom and other Gulf states. This is why Trump has since backed down from his threat. It is highly probable that Trump’s calculations mirrored Pentagon cautions over its diminishing offensive capabilities. On Saturday, the Post claimed that the US European Command chief had written to his superiors about how thin his forces were and the possibility of having to choose between protecting his “homeland” and the State of Israel due to the situation.