Iran war has led to US munitions shortfalls, Pentagon inspector confirms

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.