Even the world’s leading military power knows its limits: the American Department of Defense recognized, in a report published Monday, a “shortage” of ammunition linked to the war in Iran, an observation that the Trump administration had nevertheless largely refused to confirm in recent months.
The Pentagon inspector general’s report estimates that between February 28 and June 30, Operation Epic Fury against Iran cost approximately $33.4 billion, including $22.3 billion in munitions.
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“Ammunition spending during Operation Epic Fury caused a shortage in strategic inventories and revealed bottlenecks within industries for the renewal of ammunition,” notes the document.
The report, however, highlights the measures taken by the ministry to speed up production.
When, in June, press reports reported that the United States was rationing the use of its missiles, particularly those of the interceptor type, the government denied it, with President Donald Trump himself affirming that the country had “enormous quantities of munitions”.
End of large-scale attacks
At the beginning of September, Donald Trump still wrote that the United States had “virtually unlimited quantities of munitions”.
According to the press, this lack of ammunition nevertheless pushed the president not to renew large-scale attacks against Tehran during the summer.
Despite the massive use of interceptors, “Iranian strikes damaged and destroyed hundreds of buildings and installations on American bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan,” notes the Pentagon report.
The document, which covers the months of April to June 2026, lists damage to the aircraft fleet: four F-15s destroyed, one F-35 damaged, seven KC-135 tanker aircraft damaged or destroyed, and “up to 30” MQ-9 Reaper attack drones destroyed, among others.
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The document estimates that “more than 50,000” are the number of American soldiers involved in the war in the Gulf, triggered on February 28 by Israeli-American strikes against Iran.
The responses of Iran and its allies damaged diplomatic buildings in four countries (Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates), the report said.
With AFP
