Original Summary

Getty Images / US Patriot air defence systems, seen here at Raytheon headquarters in Massachusetts, have been heavily used in the Iran war. The US defence department's inspector general says the war with Iran has led to "shortfalls" in munitions and a bottleneck in resupply, contradicting President Donald Trump who has repeatly denied the US is facing shortages. Trump has claimed US munitions supplies are "virtually unlimited" and said reporting otherwise is "fake news". But the independent watchdog said the US spent more than $22 billion on munitions from February through June, leading to "strategic inventory shortfalls". The BBC has contacted the White House for comment about the discrepancy. The new report provides a first-of-its-kind, independent glimpse into US weapons stockpiles, data that is typically classified. Previous estimates have painted a dire picture of the US shortages. Over the course of the war, US forces have expended vast quantities of both long-range ground attack systems and the air and missile defences used to intercept incoming Iranian attacks. A late July estimate from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, or CSIS, found that stocks of some interceptors - such as the Patriot missile and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD - were significantly depleted, in some cases by more than half. The inspector general's report did not disclose exactly how many of the weapons remain. It did, however, note the inventory shortfalls and reveal "industrial base bottlenecks" for munitions resupply. The report added that the defence department is now working to "streamline procurement processes and production lead times" to address the shortages and "respond rapidly to a contingency". Trump and other administration officials have sought to cast reports of shortages as false and "treasonous". In a 4 August X post, for example, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth described news reporting on the shortages as "not true". And in a lengthy Truth Social post on 3 September, Trump claimed that the US had "virtually unlimited" amounts of ammunition and is "stockpiling and preparing for any contingency that could happen". The watchdog's report also notes that equipment losses have totaled $3.7bn, with other $7.4bn in other expenditures. Overall, the US spent $33.4bn (£24.7bn) on the war from 28 Feb to 30 Jun. Among the losses have been four F-15e fighter jets, a highly advanced F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and 30 MQ-9 drones destroyed in "various circumstances". When US and Israeli strikes began, Trump repeatedly said that the conflict would be over within weeks. More recently, he said the conflict might not end until "right after" the November midterm elections in the US. Polls show that the war is unpopular among Americans. One Reuters/Ipsos poll released in early September found that only 23% of Americans - and only half of Republicans - believe the US to be in a stronger position with Iran compared with before hostilities broke out.

中文概览

中文标题： 五角大楼监察长证实伊朗战争导致美国弹药短缺

美国国防部监察长报告称，与伊朗的战争导致弹药短缺和补给瓶颈，与特朗普反复否认短缺的说法矛盾。报告称2月至6月美国在弹药上支出超220亿美元，造成战略库存短缺；装备损失37亿美元，2月28日至6月30日战争总支出334亿美元。CSIS此前估计部分拦截弹库存大幅减少。

  • 情报分类：综合情报
  • 分类依据：美国军备与对外战争情报，无法确定归入其他类别
  • 信息来源：英语新闻 / BBC News Top Stories
  • 发布时间：2026/9/15 23:31:34