After two months of war, the Iranian army would not be in as dramatic a condition as the Pentagon would have everyone, including President Donald Trump, believe. This is evident from research by the magazine ‘The Atlantic’. It would lead to tensions between Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Vice President JD Vance.
Koen Van De Sype
Journalist at HLN
Behind closed doors, Vance is said to have repeatedly questioned the accuracy of the information provided by the Pentagon about the war. Not unjustified, as it turns out.
Although the Pentagon claims that Iran’s military is completely on the ropes, according to sources with knowledge of internal intelligence estimates, it still has “two-thirds of its air force, most of its missile-launching capacity and most of its mine-laying boats in the Strait of Hormuz.”
To assure
Vance is also said to be concerned that the US is starting to run out of weapons and ammunition. Experts support him and speak of “a serious shortage” that undermines the US’s ability to wage war.
According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a US think tank, the US may have already burned through more than half of its stockpile of four major types of ammunition in the past two months. And before the war with Iran, those supplies had already dwindled due to slow production and deliveries to Ukraine and Israel.
Hegseth and Dan Caine – as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the highest military officer in the country – deny everything. They claim that US weapons stockpiles are “robust” and that the Iranian military has been “dramatically” damaged.
Off the map
That is a rhetoric that President Trump repeats. For example, in this video from the beginning of this month you can hear him say that both the Iranian air force and navy have been completely wiped off the map:
Vance would not go so far as to accuse Hegseth and Caine of misleading the president. Some of his confidantes do, saying that Hegseth’s presentation is “so positive” that it is “misleading.”
“Dangerous”
Vance has never been in favor of the war against Iran, but Hegseth was as Secretary of War. Sources say he tells the president exactly what he wants to hear and call that “dangerous.”
