US intelligence: 50% of Iran’s missile capabilities intact despite weeks of US-Israeli strikes

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell dismissed CNN’s reporting as inaccurate. “The United States military has delivered a crippling series of blows to the Iranian regime.”

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Iran retains the ability to launch significant missile attacks across the region despite ongoing Israeli and US operations, with roughly half of its launchers still functional, according to three sources familiar with US intelligence who spoke to CNN on Friday.

The recent assessments indicate that key elements of Iran’s strike capacity remain in place, including systems likely concealed underground by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to protect them from airstrikes.

Intelligence findings also show that a substantial portion of Iran’s coastal defense cruise missiles has not been degraded, in part because US efforts have concentrated on targeting Iran’s navy rather than shore-based systems capable of striking vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.

“They are still very much poised to wreak absolute havoc throughout the entire region,” one source said.

The updated intelligence paints a more cautious picture than earlier public remarks by President Donald Trump, who said Wednesday that Iran’s “ability to launch missiles and drones is dramatically curtailed, and their weapons factories and rocket launchers are being blown to pieces, very few of them left.”

US intelligence officials cited in the report also challenged expectations about the timeline of the conflict.

“We can keep f**king them up, I don’t doubt it, but you’re out of your mind if you think this will be done in two weeks,” one source said.

Estimates of damage to Iran’s missile infrastructure have shifted over time.

The IDF said one week into the war that it had destroyed 75% of Iran’s missile launchers. A Reuters report three weeks later said US intelligence could confirm the destruction of about one-third of Iran’s missile arsenal.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell dismissed CNN’s reporting as inaccurate. “The United States military has delivered a crippling series of blows to the Iranian regime,” he said. “We are far ahead of schedule on accomplishing our military objectives: destroy Iran’s missile arsenal, annihilate their Navy, destroy their terrorist proxies, and ensure Iran can never obtain a nuclear weapon.”