The Real Munitions Shortage Transcends the Iran War

Frustrated by the lack of progress in his war with Iran, President Donald Trump is stuck in a cycle of threatened retaliation and retreat. Officially, Trump’s restraint is intended to give ongoing diplomatic talks space. Unofficially, however, Trump’s hesitancy to go all-in has a more troubling cause: warnings from the Pentagon about the sufficiency of U.S. missile stockpiles. Reporting on such concerns, expressed to the president by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine, has fed two widely disseminated narratives: First, that the United States has a “shortage” of the missiles necessary to continue fighting in the…