The US is reportedly running out of long-range missiles. Defense officials disagree

In August 2026, social media users across multiple platforms claimed the U.S. had burned through “virtually all” of its precision strike missiles during the its war on Iran, which began in February 2026.

One X post (archived) with more than 5.4 million views read:

EXCLUSIVE: The U.S. has used “virtually all” of its precision strike missiles during the war in Iran. Stockpiles on ATACMs and Precision Strike Missiles are almost depleted. And we have used about half of our Tomahawks, per new data circulating inside the admin.

We looked into the facts, and found that while the claim is based on real news media reports, we were unable to rate it using the available evidence because Reuters based its reporting on anonymous sources. U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and a spokesperson for the Pentagon denied rumors of a munitions shortage but did not say how many of these missiles the U.S. had used or how many remain.

The author of the above post, Erin Banco, is one of three reporters for news media outlet Reuters who broke the story on Aug. 4, 2026. They reported that two anonymous sources “familiar with the data” said the U.S. had used up “virtually all” Precision Strike Missiles and Army Tactical Missile Systems munitions — both made by weapons manufacturing company Lockheed Martin. A third anonymous source reportedly said the U.S. had also burned through a “little less than half” its global Raytheon-made Tomahawk missle supply.

These weapons allow the U.S. to make accurate long-distance strikes. Without them, Reuters said that “the U.S. might have to turn to alternate methods of fighting the war in Iran, which could bring American lives closer to the front line.” Reportedly according to the anonymous sources Reuters spoke to, a diminished supply of long-range missiles could also limit the U.S. ability ⁠to deter adversaries, such as Russia and China.

Another major news outlet, CNN, also reported that its reporters spoke to “senior U.S. military commanders” on the condition of anonymity, and that those sources issued “dire warnings” that missile inventory levels were “dangerously low.”

More specifically, CNN reported that the U.S. used up approximately 80% of the U.S. stockpile of interceptors for a key air defense system known as Terminal High Altitude Area Defense during the first five months of the U.S. war on Iran.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth denied the CNN report, writing on Facebook (archived): “That banner is NOT TRUE, CNN. Shame on you. We don’t hate the Fake News media enough.” 

Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell also denied the reports, writing in an email to Snopes: 

Claims of U.S. munition shortages are false. When the Fake News media irresponsibly amplifies these lies, the real-world consequence is clear: our enemies are emboldened to provoke—or attack—American troops. America’s military remains the most powerful fighting force on earth. We have everything required to strike at the time and place of the President’s choosing. Across multiple combatant commands, we have already executed successful operations while maintaining a deep, ready arsenal to defend our people and our interests. Any adversary who confuses media noise with American weakness will discover the truth the hard way.

We followed up with further questions about the real percentage of stockpiled munitions the U.S. has used in the war and have not received another response, as of this writing.

The anonymous officials reportedly told CNN that U.S. President Donald Trump gave Hegseth the go-ahead for “massive” strikes on Iran on July 31, but then reversed his order.

Concerns about the U.S. ammunitions stockpile depleting have circulated before the Reuters and CNN reports emerged in early August 2026. For example, Mark Cancian, a retired Marine Corps colonel and defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank, reportedly told CNN on July 12 that “If the war continues at the rate it’s been going for the last [five] days … it would reduce stockpiles enough that there would be a new, higher level of risk … with the Indo-Pacific.”

In sum, we left this claim unrated because reports that the U.S. burned through “virtually all” of its precision strike missiles — as much as 80% — during its war on Iran are based on anonymous sources, which Snopes does not rely on for rated fact-checks. The Pentagon denied the reports but, as of this writing, has not said how many of these munitions still remain.

For further reading, we’ve analyzed images from March 2026 of U.S.-made Tomahawk missile fragments at Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school in Minab, Iran, where a U.S. strike reportedly killed at least 165 young girls, on Feb. 28, 2026.

Sources