The president has stridently denied reports that American munitions are dwindling amid its war in Iran.

President Donald Trump walks out to attend an event with Republican lawmakers in the Rose Garden of the White House on Sept. 2, 2026, in Washington. | Alex Brandon/AP

By  GREGORY SVIRNOVSKIY

09/03/2026 01:53 PM EDT

President Donald Trump said the federal government will ask Europe to pay it back for munitions given to Ukraine under former President Joe Biden, as the White House grapples with dwindling stocks of munitions with its war in Iran now stretching into its seventh month.

“Hundreds of Billions of Dollars was given to Ukraine and NATO, free of charge, that Europe would have paid for — If they were only asked, but we will be asking for that money, though somewhat belatedly!” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday, in a series of posts defending the size of the munitions stockpile and blaming Biden for any shortfall.

Under Biden, the federal government sent billions in military aid to Kyiv amid its war against Russia, which Trump repeatedly criticized before and since returning to the White House. Last year, the White House and Europe coalesced around a plan for Washington to send weapons to Ukraine in transactions financed by allies on the continent.

But the war in Iran has created yet another, arguably bigger, pressure point.

As of late July, the U.S. military had used some 1,500 of its Patriot air-defense interceptors since the start of the war, leaving it with under 1,000 in stock, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which studies weapons development. The stock of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense interceptors, meanwhile, had fallen from 452 to well under 300, per the CSIS.

But Trump insisted that “we have virtually unlimited amounts of Mid to High Grade Ammunition,” and called reports indicating the contrary “treasonous.” He said the military was rebuilding its stockpile by taking munitions “for ourselves, the U.S.A., rather than selling them to others.”

“The people and Media Outlets that keep harping on the fact that we have no ammunition (And they are 100% wrong!), are actually treasonous,” he wrote. “They do it because they would rather see the United States LOSE a War that we’re easily WINNING, than see me WIN!”