US President Donald Trump ‘clashed’ with Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth over shortages of key missiles and air-defence systems, which have now begun limiting America’s military options in the Iran conflict.
Two insiders told the Washington Post that Trump lashed out at Mr Hegseth saying that he thought the munitions issue ‘had been fixed’, during a Cabinet meeting at Camp David this weekend.
It is believed that the extreme depletion of missiles are among the reasons Trump has held back from launching further large-scale strikes against Iran in recent days.
When confronted by Trump over dwindling weapons stockpiles, sources said Mr Hegseth blamed his deputy, Stephen Feinberg, for the shortages and for failing to keep the president fully informed.
However, the White House has denied the clash ever took place, however, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying: ‘This is 100% fake news. Literally never happened. And President Trump has the utmost confidence in Secretary Hegseth.’
Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell also added: ‘Secretary Hegseth did not mislead anyone about our munitions posture, and he did not blame Deputy Secretary Feinberg. These claims about depleted stockpiles, internal disagreements, the Secretary’s position on Iran … are equally fictional.
‘Secretary Hegseth isn’t going anywhere, and he’s going to continue to work side by side with Deputy Secretary Feinberg to execute President Trump’s agenda.’
