"There is not one nation that came to us and said, 'Please, sir, keep dropping bombs on them [Iran]'; the stupid people say that," President Trump declared last week at the G7 meeting before signing an MOU with the Islamic Republic. "Don't forget, if we were going to drop bombs, let's say we went another month, another two, three months, maybe weeks, it could be another three months. Could be whatever. What do you have left? Maybe nothing... If we keep bombing... you're talking about $500M, $600M, $700M a day. It's a lot of money."

Snapshot: This kind of rhetoric may be another indicator of the state of U.S. munitions and missiles stockpiles, which have been further drained in recent years due to conflicts in Ukraine, Gaza, and the Red Sea. Given this operational reality and the military running low on firepower, President Trump has called Pentagon officials and top military contractors to the White House on Wednesday to discuss ramping up production. Earlier this month, he even invoked the Defense Production Act to force companies to manufacture more weapons and address depleted defense capacity.

"We're really in a big strong economic push to do the weapons, and some of the car companies, if they have any excess capacity, they are making a deal to build missiles, and the Patriot in particular," Trump told reporters on Monday. "I know General Motors (GM) is all excited about building weapons. Now they have some plants, which they're going to switch over, we're going to build weapons, including the Patriot, including the Tomahawk, and lots of other things." Lockheed Martin, GM team up to explore defense manufacturing expansionOutlook: The administration has also been ramping up pressure on traditional defense firms to prioritize production over shareholder payouts. This strategy puts an emphasis on the rebuilding of weapons stockpiles, especially critical munitions, like SM-3, SM-6, and THAAD interceptors. An executive order was previously released in January that would curtail defense industry dividend payments and stock repurchases, while Congress is considering a similar bill that would ensure companies deliver on their contracts before buying back their stock or boosting executive pay. (5 comments)