Trump Admin Reportedly Orders More Troops To Middle East Amid Iran War
'But we have options for sure'
From Alaskan Crab To Furniture, Here’s How The Pentagon Wasted Your Tax Dollars In One Month
'Unfortunately, the Pentagon's traditional year-end spending spree in 2025 was the worst ever on record at a staggering $93.4 billion.'‘Make The Right Choices’: Fallen Soldier’s Advice Should Guide Trump’s War In Iran
How many more families will have to hear the death knell of the doorbell? At the very least, they should know what it is we’re fighting for.US 'hunted down and killed' Iranian who plotted to assassinate Trump, Hegseth says
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced the United States has killed an Iranian who plotted to kill President Donald Trump.
During a Wednesday Pentagon briefing, Hegseth gave reporters the latest military actions with respect to Operation Epic Fury, just days after the United States first struck Iran alongside Israel on Saturday.
'We are fighting to win.'
"Yesterday, the leader of the unit who attempted to assassinate President Trump has been hunted down and killed," Hegseth said.
"Iran tried to kill President Trump, and President Trump got the last laugh."
RELATED: Lindsey Graham feverishly demands ANOTHER Middle Eastern conflict: 'Fly with Israel'
Hegseth also announced that the United States struck and successfully sunk an Iranian warship with a torpedo, emphasizing the operation's successful takedown of the Islamic state's navy.
"An American submarine sunk an Iranian warship that thought it was safe in international waters," Hegseth said. "Instead it was sunk by a torpedo. Quiet death. The first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War II."
"Like in that war, back when we were still the War Department, we are fighting to win."
RELATED: US service member death toll continues to rise amid Operation Epic Fury
Hegseth reiterated the United States' objectives to debilitate Iran's military capabilities, in particular its nuclear ambitions.
"As I said Monday, the mission is laser focused," Hegseth said. "Obliterate Iran's missiles and drones and facilities that produce them, annihilate its navy and critical security infrastructure, and sever their pathway to nuclear weapons."
"Iran will never possess a nuclear bomb," Hegseth added. "Not on our watch. Not ever."
Hegseth did not elaborate on sensitive details or estimated timelines, but Trump has notably predicted a four- or five-week operation in the Gulf.
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Would Iran strikes 2.0 exhaust America's munitions?
Military officials, defense analysts, and critics have issued numerous warnings in recent years about the state of America's military readiness.
While the Trump administration has taken steps to address some of the problems identified by scrutineers, there is at least one outstanding issue that could impact America's ability to wage a protracted ballistic war against its adversaries, namely its depleted stores of critical munitions.
'I don't want our adversaries to think for a second that we don’t have enough resources.'
Two U.S. military officials recently told the New York Times that the Department of War presently lacks the requisite forces and munitions for an extended bombing campaign against Iran.
One of the officials suggested that the American forces presently positioned in the region could continue strikes in the region for only seven to 10 days.
Christian Brose, the president of the American defense firm Anduril, similarly suggested earlier this week in a piece for the Wall Street Journal that "in a conflict with China, the U.S. would run out of critical munitions in days, according to the results of war games."
Amid such chatter and mounting concerns over what America's stockpiles might look like in the wake of a lengthier conflict with Iran, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement to Politico, "The Department of War has everything it needs to execute any mission at the time and place of the president’s choosing and on any timeline."
RELATED: Nukes by the numbers: A problem we can’t wish away
The Pentagon's confidence notwithstanding, some American officials and analysts are worried about how America's stockpiles will look after a potential conflict with Iran.
After all, by arming Ukraine for its ongoing war with Russia, bombing Houthi terrorists in Yemen, vaporizing numerous alleged Venezuelan drug-runners, and helping to protect Israel — which has its own sophisticated albeit depleted missile defense system — from regional threats, the U.S. has reportedly burned through a great many Patriot missiles, Standard Missile-3s, and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense interceptors.
According to American Enterprise Institute fellows Mackenzie Eaglen and Todd Harrison, the U.S. expended over 150 THAAD anti-ballistic missile interceptors defending Israel in June 2025 during its 12-day conflict with Iran.
That's reportedly nearly 25% of its total number of THAAD interceptors and reportedly three times the average annual procurement since 2010.
Each THAAD interceptor is valued at approximately $12.7 million.
The AEI duo noted that during the same conflict, the U.S. also launched over 80 Standard Missile-3 interceptors.
According to a December report by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the SM-3 missiles fired last June — which range in cost from around $9.6 million to $27.9 million — represented nearly one-fifth of the military's stockpile at the end of 2025.
"If the Iranians can deplete 25% of America’s THAAD stocks and a significant portion of our SM-3 magazines in a few days, the Chinese can and will exhaust them in a few hours," wrote the AEI duo, who proposed that the military "regain its ability to compete at scale."
American forces in the Red Sea have also expended a significant number of munitions battling Houthi terrorists in recent years.
Stars and Stripes reported last month that Navy forces had fired over 200 missiles and 150 artillery rounds in response to Houthi attacks since November 2023.
Vice Admiral Brendan McLane, commander of Naval Surface Forces, told Stripes that over the past 15 months or so, the Navy had fired 120 SM-2, 80 SM-6, and 20 Evolve Sea Sparrow and SM-3 missiles.
SM-2 and SM-6 missiles roughly cost $2.1 million and $3.9 million each, respectively.
While Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) acknowledged to Politico that munitions scarcity was "not a secret," he indicated that assembly lines for air defenses such as THAAD systems and Patriot interceptors have been "set up, and they just have to maximize, with double or triple shifts."
"I don't want our adversaries to think for a second that we don’t have enough resources," Calvert added. "We do."
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Parents have been systematically turned away from the few venues they once had to steer Department of Defense Education Activity schools.'They're real': Obama makes shocking statement about aliens — then tries to walk it back
In a recent interview with Bryan Tyler Cohen, former President Barack Obama was asked about the existence of aliens during a "speed round" of questions, and Obama made a shocking statement.
“They’re real,” Obama told Cohen quickly.
The clip quickly went viral, sparking renewed questions about what the former president knows and what he has previously said about UFOs and extraterrestrial life.
'Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there.'
Obama clarified to Cohen that he has never actually “seen them” himself and dismissed long-running Area 51 conspiracy theories, saying that the government is not actively hiding aliens, unless agents somehow managed to conceal that information from the president of the United States.
But this was not the first time Obama publicly addressed the issue.
In 2021, during an appearance on "The Late Late Show with James Corden," Obama was pressed about UFOs.
“There are some things I just can’t tell you on air,” Obama said.
Though the exchange began lightheartedly, Obama shifted to a more serious tone.
“What is true, and I’m actually being serious here, is that there’s footage and records of objects in the skies that we don’t know exactly what they are,” Obama said. “We can’t explain how they moved, their trajectory. They did not have an easily explainable pattern. And so, you know, I think that people still take seriously trying to investigate and figure out what that is.”
President Donald Trump has also fielded questions about aliens on multiple occasions, including during an interview with podcast host Joe Rogan.
“I interviewed jet pilots that were solid people — perfect, great pilots, great everything. And they said, ‘We saw things, sir, that were very strange, like a round ball, but it wasn’t a comet or a meteor,’” Trump said. “‘It was something, and it was going four times faster than an F-22.’”
“There’s no reason not to think that Mars and all these planets don’t have life,” Trump added.
These previous statements from both presidents are notably similar in tone, acknowledging unexplained aerial phenomena while stopping short of confirming extraterrestrial life, making Obama's comment to Cohen all the more noteworthy.
However, Obama has since attempted to give more context to his declaration that aliens are "real."
RELATED: Pentagon psyop exposed: Military reportedly cooked up tales of alien technology in weapons cover-up
A day after the interview, Obama made a clarifying post on Instagram, saying he was "trying to stick with the spirit of the speed round."
Obama then delivered a gut punch to the community of UFO believers, saying, "Statistically, the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there. But the distances between solar systems are so great that the chances we’ve been visited by aliens is low, and I saw no evidence during my presidency that extraterrestrials have made contact with us. Really!"
Studies show that the American people remain curious about the UFO phenomenon. A 2025 poll from NewsNation/Decision Desk HQ surveyed 521 Republicans, 559 Democrats, 349 independents, and 18 “other” voters and found that 44% of Americans believe the government is concealing UFO information. Twenty-eight percent disagree, while another 28% remain unsure.
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