Despite Washington's claims. Report reveals most of Iran's missile arsenal still intact
Despite the noise of raids and successive military statements from the White House, a large "gap" between political statements and intelligence reports on the ground about the truth of what happened to Iran's missile arsenal began to unfold after a month of continuous strikes.
Trump is underestimating the numbers. And the intelligence is skeptical
At a time when U.S. President Donald Trump came out to assert that Tehran no longer had "very few missiles," the Reuters report painted a completely different picture.
The report revealed that Washington, despite its intensity of fire, has only been able to destroy a third of its arsenal, while the other two-thirds remain "damaged" or "fortified" within a complex underground tunnel network.
This contradiction was reinforced by the statement of Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton, who warned that Tehran is "retaining part of its capabilities and waiting for the right time," referring to Iran's "breathe-long" strategy .
The "Rocket Cities" Underground Node
The biggest challenge facing military planners in Washington and Israel lies in the so-called "rocket cities." According to U.S. officials, it is difficult to get an exact figure on the size of the arsenal because it is stored in deep underground facilities.
While Israel claims to neutralize 70 percent of the launch pads (about 335), Iran's geographical distribution of these platforms has made it difficult to completely immobilize them, and although the pace of launch has slowed, the missiles that succeed in penetrating are draining interception systems that cost billions of dollars.
Far-Reaching Messages
Last week, Tehran made a dramatic development by targeting the Diego Garcia military base in the heart of the Indian Ocean with long-range missiles for the first time, a clear message that Iran's missile arm is still capable of reaching distant strategic targets.
US insists on the 'tunnel challenge'
U.S. Secretary of War Pete Higgseth acknowledged the difficulty of the task, saying Iran's tunnel network is a real obstacle, but stressed that the U.S. military will continue to pursue these capabilities "systematically and decisively."
In conclusion:
Between Trump's assertions that the remaining 1% of the missiles could destroy a $1 billion ship, and reports that most of the arsenal remains intact, it seems that the "bone-shattering" missile war is far from over, and that the "tunnels" are still hiding many surprises in the region's mailbox.