Congress confronts new questions about US stockpiles, Iran firepower |
Congress confronts new questions about US stockpiles, Iran firepower
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s appearance before House and Senate appropriators on Tuesday hasn’t settled the debate in Congress over two mounting questions about the Iran war: whether U.S. stockpiles are dangerously low and how much firepower Tehran maintains.
Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday remained dubious of Hegseth’s claims that the U.S. military’s weapons stockpiles remain strong more than two months into the war, with the Pentagon chief this week on the attack to refute anyone who says otherwise.
Likewise, the Trump administration’s public insistence that Iran’s missile capability is all but obliterated was thrown into doubt following assessments from the intelligence community that Iran still has roughly 70 percent of its mobile launchers and 70 percent of its prewar missile stockpile — first reported by The New York Times on Tuesday.
Hegseth on Tuesday in back-to-back hearings in the House and Senate dismissed concerns of strained stockpiles, accusing the press and lawmakers of overblowing the issue.
“First of all, the munitions issue has been foolishly and unhelpfully overstated,” Hegseth told House appropriators. “We know exactly what we have. We have plenty of what we need.”
Asked Wednesday whether Hegseth’s reassurances convinced her the U.S. is fine with stockpiles, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) simply replied: “No.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said he found Heseth’s claims “absolutely ludicrous, given everything that we’ve heard from various sources, including public statements from military leaders themselves.”
Blumenthal also pushed back on the administration’s claims that Iran’s missile capability was destroyed.
“There’s no question that Iran still has more than 1,000 missiles, and I can tell you that I’m somewhat shocked to hear some of the rhetoric from Secretary Hegseth given what we have been told reliably,” he said.
And on Tuesday, during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on the Army budget, panel Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) pointed out that the service’s munitions stockpiles “are under extreme strain.”
Republican senators struck a more assured tone.
“I’ve talked to Hegseth about it and they’re comfortable with it,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said of the current stockpile levels, adding that they will “absolutely” be replenished at some point.
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) told The........