U.S. Intelligence Shows Iran Retains Substantial Missile Capabilities - The New York Times
By: Adam Entous Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan (nytimes)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Secret new assessments say Iran has operational access to 30 of its 33 missile sites along the Strait of Hormuz, suggesting that its military remains far stronger than President Trump has asserted.
By Adam Entous Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan
Adam Entous, who covers national security issues, reported from Washington and Brussels. Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, who cover the White House, reported from Washington.
May 12, 2026, 5:07 p.m. ET
The Trump administration's public portrayal of a shattered Iranian military is sharply at odds with what U.S. intelligence agencies are telling policymakers behind closed doors, according to classified assessments from early this month that show Iran has regained access to most of its missile sites, launchers and underground facilities.
Most alarming to some senior officials is evidence that Iran has restored operational access to 30 of the 33 missile sites it maintains along the Strait of Hormuz, which could threaten American warships and oil tankers transiting the narrow waterway.
People with knowledge of the assessments said they show — to varying degrees, depending on the level of damage incurred at the different sites — that the Iranians can use mobile launchers that are inside the sites to move missiles to other locations. In some cases they can launch missiles directly from launchpads that are part of the facilities. Only three of the missile sites along the strait remain totally inaccessible, according to the assessments.
Iran still fields about 70 percent of its mobile launchers across the country and has retained roughly 70 percent of its prewar missile stockpile, according to the assessments. That stockpile encompasses both ballistic missiles, which can target other nations in the region, and a smaller supply of cruise missiles, which can be used against shorter-range targets on land or at sea.
Military intelligence agencies have also reported, based on information from multiple collection streams including satellite imagery and other surveillance technologies, that Iran has regained access to roughly 90 percent of its underground missile storage and launch facilities nationwide, which are now assessed to be "partially or fully operational," the people with knowledge of the assessments said.
The findings undercut months of public assurances from President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who have told Americans that the Iranian military was "decimated" and "no longer" a threat.
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If this is true the war has been an utter failure.
But.......but.......but trump said we won the war on day one.
/sarc....
2 months later....
Morning Frosty...Iran is like Ukraine.. neither is going anywhere..
The penny will drop one day for Putin and Trump..
Of course, we'll still see the expected lies and bullshit coming from the right claiming that anyone not screaming in rabid righteous fury about American military infallibility and how Iran is totally destroyed are somehow 'unpatriotic' or 'antisemitic'.
and I will tell them to kiss my ass. COC be damned
in the good old days we irreverently mocked our own fact finders and national and international reporters
by saying that our US Intellingences Agency ( CIA) was the OXMORON.
Unfortunately everything Trump touches dies.
And his obliteration was, of course, a lie. Trump is an incompetent buffoon who bullshits his way through life.
I wonder what the final cost tally on americans and the world will be for trump to negotiate a treaty worse than than the one he cancelled ...
Remember when past administrations would blow something up, we’d get cool video of it? Heck, even this administration did it with the mystery boats “from Venezuela.”
Guess we’re not doing that anymore? Nothing to see?
Trump sees the American people like mushrooms....Keep them in the dark and feed them shit. Trump today he doesn't care about the American people on live TV... But don't you worry, a Nutter will be along any moment now to try and twist into something that makes trump look like an angel.
How long before those intelligence analysts lose their heads?
I wonder if iran would surrender their enriched uranium and sign a new treaty for trump, vance, rubio and hegseth? win//win ...