Classified US intelligence assessments indicate Iran retains significant missile capabilities despite repeated claims by the Trump administration that Tehran’s military had been “shattered,” according to a US media report.
The New York Times reported that intelligence findings from early May show Iran has regained operational access to most of its missile sites, including 30 of the 33 missile sites along the Strait of Hormuz.
Citing people familiar with the assessments, the newspaper said Iran still possesses roughly 70% of its prewar missile stockpile and mobile launchers.
The assessments also found that nearly 90% of Iran’s underground missile storage and launch facilities nationwide are now “partially or fully operational.”
“Not sustainable”
White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales was quoted as saying that Iran’s government knows that its “current reality is not sustainable” and that anyone who “thinks Iran has reconstituted its military is either delusional or a mouthpiece” for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.
Regional tensions have escalated since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Feb. 28, triggering retaliation from Tehran against Israel as well as US allies in the Gulf, along with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
A two-week ceasefire took effect on April 8 through Pakistani mediation, but subsequent talks in Islamabad failed to produce a lasting agreement.
The truce was later extended indefinitely by Trump. Since then, Islamabad has been working to revive the stalled diplomacy.
Trump rejected Iran's latest response to a US proposal to permanently end the war, calling it "totally unacceptable."
