Iranian teams are rapidly repairing underground missile bunkers and silos hit by U.S. and Israeli strikes, often restoring them within hours, according to U.S. intelligence, according to the New York Times.
The findings underscore doubts within American agencies about how close Washington is to achieving a central war aim: crippling Iran’s missile program.
While officials lack a precise count of remaining launchers, they say Iran still retains enough ballistic missiles and operational platforms to strike Israel and other targets across the region.
U.S. forces, for their part, say they deployed multiple 5,000-pound class GBU-72/B’s against hardened missile sites along Iran’s coastline near the Strait of Hormuz in mid-March.
The weapon is designed to burrow through reinforced concrete, rock or soil before exploding, making it effective against underground bunkers, command centers and fortified weapons storage facilities.
The White House has repeatedly said Iran’s capabilities were decimated.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth earlier this week said Iran had launched fewer missiles and drones than in any previous 24-hour period since the U.S. and Israel started their war.
President Donald Trump has publicly signaled that his operation has largely accomplished its objectives, saying Wednesday in a national address that the U.S. has “beaten and completely decimated Iran” and was “going to finish the job, and we’re going to finish it very fast.”
Still, the war has reached five weeks and Iran’s attacks on Gulf energy infrastructure and its tight grip on the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil and natural gas transits in peacetime, have roiled stock markets, sent oil prices skyrocketing, and threatened to raise the cost of many basic goods, including food.
More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began on Feb. 28 with U.S. and Israeli strikes
More than two dozen people have died in Gulf states and the occupied West Bank, 19 have been reported dead in Israel and 13 U.S. service members have been killed.
More than 1,300 people have been killed and more than 1 million have been displaced in Lebanon. Ten Israeli soldiers have also died there.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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