President Donald Trump marched forward with a high-stakes military campaign against Iran five months ago despite receiving explicit internal warnings regarding severe munitions shortages and critical geopolitical choke points, according to White House sources and reporting detailed by New York Times reporter and author Jonathan Swan.
The Miscalculation Behind the Iran Missile Campaign
According to Jonathan Swan, co-author of Regime Change, during an appearance on MS NOW hosted by Ari Melber, Donald Trump held a firm belief at a gut level that the war would conclude swiftly through an overwhelming joint display of U.S. and Israeli military might.
“All of this was not just predictable, but it was predicted actually,” Swan noted during the broadcast. “He was warned about the munitions supply. He was warned about the potential for the Strait of Hormuz to be shut down. What happened was Donald Trump believed at a very core gut level that none of these things would happen because the war would be over quickly.”
Depleted Stockpiles and the Strategic Threat to the Pacific
Five months into the conflict, the most acute vulnerability facing the U.S. military is not just strategic positioning in the Middle East, but an alarming deficit in core defensive hardware. Swan highlighted that America’s stockpiles of long-range weapons, interceptors, and Patriot missile systems have been severely drained.
“These are the kinds of weapons that, God forbid, if we ever got into a conflict with China, we would potentially need them. So, they’re facing real constraints as well,” Swan explained.
Despite clear evidence of inventory strain, the White House has consistently sought to downplay the severity of the shortage.
Escalation Plans and the Shadow of Economic Calamity
Sources indicate that Trump’s inner circle presented him with plans for a major escalation against Iran, involving a massive surge in the deployment of bombs and missiles, even as inventory logs showed the nation’s arsenals thinning.
“You could have a global economic calamity on Trump’s watch,” Swan warned, pointing to the twin pressures of constrained weapons manufacturing and potential disruptions to vital trade lanes like the Strait of Hormuz.
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