U.S. Says Iran Regains Majority of Missile Sites — Iran Missiles
The United States believes Iran has regained access to a majority of its iran missiles sites. A New York Times report on Tuesday said those active sites include 30 along the Strait of Hormuz, where Iranian missiles remain a threat to U.S. naval ships.
The same assessment says Iran can still use missile stockpiles in non-operational sites by launching them with mobile launchers. U.S. military agencies also claimed that 90% of Iranian underground missile facilities are at least partially operational, while Iran keeps roughly 70% of its mobile launcher inventory and about 70% of its prewar stockpile.
Strait of Hormuz sites
Those 30 active sites along the Strait of Hormuz give Iran a launch position close to one of the world’s most closely watched waterways. For U.S. naval ships in the area, that means the operating picture is not limited to fixed bases; mobile launchers and partially usable underground facilities also remain in play.
That is the part of the assessment that cuts against Pete Hegseth’s public description of Iran’s arsenal as “depleted and decimated.” The report places the emphasis elsewhere: not on a force that has disappeared, but on one that still has access to a large share of its launch infrastructure.
Mobile launchers and stockpiles
On April 11, The reported that Iran still retains thousands of short-range ballistic missiles and can reactivate their launchers, citing a U.S. intelligence assessment. The paper also said Iran’s short and medium-range missile stockpile remains in the thousands despite a massive depletion since the start of Operation Epic Fury.
A separate figure in the reporting puts Iran’s reach toward Israel at up to 1,000 missiles capable of hitting Israeli territory. That estimate sits beside the broader stockpile numbers and the launcher inventory, leaving a picture of capacity that is reduced but still substantial.
Pete Hegseth’s assessment
Pete Hegseth’s line on Iran’s arsenal has been straightforward: “depleted and decimated.” The new reporting does not erase that claim, but it does narrow the space between political description and military readiness by showing how many sites, launchers, and underground facilities remain usable.
For U.S. planners and regional forces, the operational question now is not whether Iran has missiles, but how much of its launch network still works in practice. The next pressure point is the same one the reporting keeps returning to: whether those remaining sites, launchers, and underground facilities can be kept active under sustained scrutiny.
