Iran ‘still has thousands of ballistic missiles’ after more than a month of conflict

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth this week announced that Iran’s missile program had been “functionally destroyed”, with missiles and launchers “exhausted, devastated and almost completely ineffective”.

However, WSJ On April 10, citing US intelligence reports, Iran was still able to partially restore its missile force despite continuous airstrikes by the US and Israel over the past month.

Although more than half of Iran’s launchers have been destroyed, damaged or trapped in collapsed underground bunkers, many launchers can still be repaired or dug up for continued use, WSJ quoted US officials as saying.

Israeli officials said about two-thirds of the ballistic missile launchers in Iran were disabled during the conflict, but also noted that Tehran was able to recover many of the launchers buried underground after raids by Washington and Tel Aviv.

Also according to US and Israeli officials, Iran’s missile inventory has been reduced by about half compared to before the conflict broke out on February 28, but the country still has thousands of short- and medium-range ballistic missiles that can be taken out of hiding places or taken from underground facilities.

“Israeli officials also said that Iran still had more than 1,000 of the 2,500 medium-range missiles it was estimated to have at the time the war broke out. The rest have been fired or destroyed,” WSJ said.

US officials say Iran still has less than 50% of the suicide drones (UAVs) that Tehran had at the beginning of the conflict, due to the use of many UAVs in retaliatory attacks, as well as the enemy’s raids on weapons production facilities.

US officials also said Iran has a small stock of cruise missiles, adding that these missiles could potentially be used to target ships in the Persian Gulf and US soldiers if negotiations break down.

Although Israel could not completely wipe out Iran’s missile launch capabilities, officials said they had achieved success by getting Tehran to reduce its firing frequency to 10-15 times a day for most of the conflict. Iran launched dozens of missiles every day during the first phase of hostilities.

According to WSJ, Israeli officials also said Iran currently does not have the ability to produce more missiles and the speed of Tehran’s recovery will depend on the level of outside support.

Central Command (CENTCOM), the agency in charge of US military operations in the Middle East, declined to comment on the above information. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said US forces had achieved all of their goals.

On April 8, the United States and Iran reached a two-week ceasefire agreement brokered by Pakistan to facilitate the negotiation process. Some US officials worry that Iran could take advantage of the truce to rebuild part of its missile arsenal.

“Iran has demonstrated an incredible ability to innovate and reinvigorate its forces,” said Kenneth Pollack, vice president for policy at the Middle East Institute. “They are a much more formidable opponent than most military forces in the Middle East, with the exception of Israel.”

However, US analysts do not believe that Iran will soon restore its missile and UAV inventory to pre-conflict levels, after the country’s defense industry suffered many US-Israeli attacks.