Iran still maintains half its missile launchers and drones, US assessment finds: Report
More than a month into the joint US-Israeli war on Iran, the Iranian military is still in possession of about half of its missile launchers and half of its suicide drones, a US intelligence assessment said, first reported by CNN on Thursday.
The assessment flies in the face of the language of obliteration that US President Donald Trump and the Israeli government have often used to describe Iran's capabilities, from the opening days of the war until as recently as Wednesday.
The scale at which Iran has launched retaliatory attacks against US assets and key resources in the Gulf has certainly decreased by at least half since early last month, based on figures provided by the Pentagon, as well as Middle East Eye's sources in the region.
But Iran's targeting has also grown more precise, as it shifts away from a strategy first meant to overwhelm the air defences of US allies.
On Friday, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps air defences shot down a US F-15E fighter jet over southwestern Iran.
A spokesperson for Iran’s military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, said the jet had been “completely destroyed”.
The incident led to a race between the Iranians and the Americans to locate the crew from the plane, with CBS News reporting on Friday that one crew member had been rescued by US forces.
'Back to the stone ages'
The US intelligence assessment also reportedly shows that Iran’s coastal defence cruise missiles are largely intact - a setup that is integral to policing the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has leveraged for global economic pressure.
The US military has blown up several ships from Iran's navy.
CNN's reporting is based on discussions with three unnamed US officials who are familiar with the assessment, with one saying Iran is "still very much poised to wreak absolute havoc throughout the entire region".
The Pentagon was quick to refute the story and called it "completely wrong".
Earlier this week, Trump touted what he said were "swift, decisive, overwhelming" US successes in its 34-day war so far, and that the "core strategic objectives are nearing completion".
He gave no timeline for when the US might end its attacks, but warned there is more devastation to come.
"We are going to finish the job, but we're going to finish it very fast. We're getting very close," the president said. "We're going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We're going to bring them back to the stone ages where they belong."
The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Thursday said it had documented at least 20 US-Israeli attacks on Iranian healthcare infrastructure, resulting in at least nine deaths, including that of an infectious disease worker and a member of the Iranian Red Crescent Society.
This is in addition to the Pasteur Institute of Iran, a century-old medical research facility that sustained significant damage, the WHO said.
This article was sourced from Middle East Eye.
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