In the aftermath of months of intermittent military engagement with Iran, the Trump administration has chosen reassurance over transparency, publicly dismissing expert concerns about depleted weapons stockpiles even as defense analysts warn of a widening gap between what has been consumed and what can be replaced. This tension between wartime messaging and strategic reality is as old as conflict itself — governments have long weighed the cost of candor against the risk of signaling weakness to adversaries. What hangs in the balance is not merely public perception, but America's practical capac