Trump claims US ‘totally destroying’ Iranian regime, but reports warn of strained stockpiles

US President Donald Trump on Friday claimed that the United States was “totally destroying” Iran’s leadership and military even as the Islamic Republic launched multiple attacks targeting Gulf Arab states and effectively blocked shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said, “We are totally destroying the terrorist regime of Iran, militarily, economically, and otherwise.”

“Iran’s Navy is gone, their Air Force is no longer, missiles, drones and everything else are being decimated, and their leaders have been wiped from the face of the earth,” he wrote.

The comments came a day after Iran’s newly installed supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, vowed revenge for Iranians killed in the war and warned Gulf Arab nations hosting American bases to close them, saying reliance on US protection was “nothing more than a lie.”

Early Friday, Iran launched multiple attacks targeting Gulf Arab states, including sending dozens of drones toward Saudi Arabia.

The escalating conflict has also rattled global energy markets.

Prices for Brent crude oil remained above $100 per barrel as Iran continued to threaten shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow channel through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil supply passes.

Brent prices have surged to as high as about $120 per barrel, roughly 40% higher than levels before Israel and the United States launched attacks on Iran that triggered the war.

Iran has repeatedly targeted vessels attempting to pass through the strait, and Khamenei said Tehran would continue blocking the key shipping route.

A report by CNN suggested US officials may have underestimated Iran’s willingness to close the waterway.

Citing people familiar with matter, the report said Trump’s national security team failed to fully account for the possibility that Iran could move to shut the strait after US military strikes.

The conflict is also straining US weapons stockpiles.

A Financial Times report, citing people familiar with the matter, claimed that the United States has used up “years” worth of certain critical munitions since the start of the war, including large numbers of long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles.

“It is a massive expenditure of Tomahawks,” FT quoted one person as saying.

The Pentagon is reportedly preparing to request as much as $50 billion in additional military spending from the White House and Congress to sustain the war effort.

Trump, however, claimed that the US has “unparalleled firepower, unlimited ammunition, and plenty of time.”

“Watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today,” he wrote. “They’ve been killing innocent people all over the world for 47 years, and now I, as the 47th President of the United States of America, am killing them.”