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The first Pentagon inspector general report on the impact of the U.S. war against Iran found that munitions used during the four-month campaign caused "strategic inventory shortfalls" and exposed bottlenecks in the U.S. defense industrial base that hindered efforts to replenish weapons stocks.
The report covered April 1 to June 30 and was prepared under the Lead Inspector General framework overseeing Operation Epic Fury. It cited the Office of the Under Secretary of War for Acquisition and Sustainment, which reported that munitions expenditure had resulted in strategic inventory shortfalls and revealed industrial base bottlenecks affecting munitions resupply.
To address the gap, the Pentagon is working to streamline procurement processes and production lead times while stockpiling critical materials, components and selected munitions to respond rapidly to a contingency, according to the report.
The report found that the defense industrial base requires "significant lead time" to expand production capacity. The most persistent bottlenecks were in the production of solid rocket motors, the availability of high-grade explosives and propellants, and the recruitment of skilled manufacturing labor.
The findings came as President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth repeatedly denied media reports that depleted munitions stockpiles had limited U.S. military options against Iran.
Trump said last month that the United States had “massive amounts” of ammunition and that U.S. defense companies were building the “largest number of plants and factories in our country’s history.”
On Monday, Trump said the United States was producing more advanced weapons than at any point in the nation’s history.
"I've just received a Report that the United States is producing more Exquisite and Elite Weapons than at any time in our History," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "They are being delivered on a daily basis to our Forces in the Middle East, and beyond," he added.
"Our Defense Company Factories are moving 24/7, while at the same time building, on average, 4 to 5 large-scale brand new Plants, each!"
Trump identified Patriots, THAAD Systems, Tomahawks and other Standard Missile Systems as primary focuses of the production effort and wrote that the United States already had large numbers of those weapons in stock.
The Pentagon estimated the total cost of the Iran war at $33.4 billion as of June 29, including $22.3 billion for expended munitions and $3.7 billion in equipment losses based on replacement cost, according to the report. The estimate did not include infrastructure repair costs.
Hegseth told Congress on July 21 that without supplemental funding, the Pentagon "could face critical shortfalls" that would threaten its ability to pay service members, replenish some equipment and munitions, and sustain its global operations.
The White House submitted an $87.6 billion emergency supplemental funding request to Congress on June 24. The request included $67.1 billion for the Pentagon, with $21 billion earmarked specifically for munitions.
Seven U.S. service members were killed in action during the U.S-Israeli war against Iran, while seven others died in non-hostile incidents between Feb. 28 and June 30, according to the report. A total of 417 service members were wounded during that period. Four more were killed in action in July, the report added.
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