US President Donald Trump clashed with his defense secretary last week, accusing Pete Hegseth of misleading the White House about the state of American munitions stockpiles amid a potential return to major combat operations in Iran, according to a Wednesday report.

The exchange took place at Camp David, The Washington Post reported, on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting. According to the report, which cited two people familiar with the exchange, Trump told Hegseth he thought the problem – a shortage of long-range and interceptor missiles – “had been fixed.”

CNN reported Wednesday that the US military has used up close to 80 percent of its interceptors for the THAAD anti-ballistic missile defense system and approximately 50% of its Patriot interceptors, leaving the supply of those munitions “dangerously low.”

When confronted about the problem, Hegseth punted the blame to his deputy, Stephen Feinberg, the Post report said.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt denied the story completely, telling The Post it was: “100% fake news. Literally never happened. And President Trump has the utmost confidence in Secretary Hegseth.”

Likewise, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said: “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,” he said.

The Post’s reporting on the Trump-Hegseth exchange came as NBC News also reported Trump lashed out at his aides last week. It was not immediately clear whether NBC was referring to the same Camp David cabinet meeting.

Despite public displays of satisfaction with how the US-Iran war is going, neither Trump nor his top aides are pleased with the status quo, a US official told the network.

His aides also can’t agree on a path forward, the source continued, adding: “After........

© The Times of Israel