{"id":24259,"date":"2026-05-08T05:32:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T05:32:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2026\/05\/08\/cia-assessment-counters-trump-claim-on-iran-missile-losses\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T05:32:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T05:32:30","slug":"cia-assessment-counters-trump-claim-on-iran-missile-losses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2026\/05\/08\/cia-assessment-counters-trump-claim-on-iran-missile-losses\/","title":{"rendered":"CIA Assessment Counters Trump Claim On Iran Missile Losses"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div style=\"position:relative\" data-narration-container=\"true\">\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">A CIA assessment presented to Trump administration officials this week reportedly found that Iran still possesses roughly 70% of its prewar missile stockpile even after weeks of U.S. and Israeli strikes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">The Islamic regime also retains about 75% of its mobile launchers, according to a report from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Washington Post<\/a>. An intelligence source familiar with the analysis confirmed its existence to The Daily Wire.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">American intelligence officials believe Tehran has <\/span><span style=\"font-weight:400\">managed to reopen underground storage facilities, repair damaged missiles, and continue assembling weapons that were near completion before the conflict began.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">Before the war, Iran was believed to possess roughly 2,500 missiles and thousands of drones, according to the Post. Despite launching repeated attacks against Israel, neighboring Arab countries, and U.S. military sites in the region, much of that arsenal appears to remain intact.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">The findings appear to conflict with comments President Donald Trump made on Wednesday, when he said Iran\u2019s missile capabilities had been largely \u201cdecimated.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">\u201cTheir missiles are mostly decimated, they have some, they have probably 18, 19 percent,\u201d Trump said in the Oval Office. \u201cNot a lot by comparison to what they had.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">Iran fired roughly 650 missiles <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ajc.org\/news\/the-iran-strikes-explained-how-we-got-here-and-what-it-means\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight:400\">at Israel<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight:400\"> during the latest conflict and another 549 ballistic missiles at the United Arab Emirates, including several launched this week despite a ceasefire remaining in effect. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight:400\">According to the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/modgovae\/status\/2051377052998332472?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight:400\">UAE Ministry of Defense<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight:400\">, the attacks have killed 13 people and injured 227 others.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell defended the administration\u2019s handling of the conflict.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">\u201cOperation Epic Fury was an overwhelming success, with our forces executing the mission with unmatched precision and achieving every objective set by the President from the outset,\u201d Parnell said in a statement provided to The Daily Wire. \u201cThis success follows Operation Midnight Hammer last year, which completely obliterated Iran\u2019s nuclear capabilities and demonstrated exactly what American military strength looks like.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">One U.S. official cited by the Post warned that Iran may be more capable of enduring a prolonged conflict than the CIA\u2019s assessment suggests.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">\u201cThe leadership has gotten more radical, determined and increasingly confident they can outlast U.S. political will and sustain domestic repression to check any resistance\u201d inside Iran, the official said. \u201cComparatively, you see similar regimes lasting years under sustained embargoes and airpower-only wars.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">The CIA assessment also found Iran may be able to withstand the current U.S. naval blockade for several more months, though the restrictions have sharply reduced oil exports and strained the regime\u2019s economy.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">Still, the blockade has sharply reduced Iran\u2019s oil exports and placed mounting pressure on the regime\u2019s economy. Experts say Tehran\u2019s remaining options are limited: consume excess oil domestically, store it, or shut down production altogether \u2014 each carrying major economic consequences. Production shutdowns, in particular, can permanently damage oil wells and reduce long-term output.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">During active fighting with the United States \u2014 but before the blockade fully took hold \u2014 Iran continued exporting crude through its illicit \u201cghost fleet,\u201d averaging roughly 2.1 million barrels per day between April 1 and April 13, consistent with prewar levels, according to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedagainstnucleariran.com\/blog\/iran-war-shipping-update-april-30-2026\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight:400\">The Wall Street Journal<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight:400\">. After the blockade intensified, exports reportedly fell to approximately 567,000 barrels per day.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">The regime\u2019s desperation became increasingly visible in recent weeks. According to United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), Tehran recently reactivated the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight:400\">Nasha<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight:400\">, a derelict 30-year-old tanker that had sat idle for years, repurposing it to store oil offshore. Satellite imagery reportedly showed the vessel loading crude near Kharg Island on April 26 before departing days later.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">The White House disputed suggestions that the military campaign had fallen short.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">\u201cDuring Operation Epic Fury, Iran was crushed militarily,\u201d White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement to the Post. \u201cNow, they are being strangled economically by Operation Economic Fury and losing $500 million per day thanks to the United States Military\u2019s successful blockade of Iranian ports. The Iranian regime knows full well their current reality is not sustainable, and President Trump holds all the cards as negotiators work to make a deal.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:400\">Meanwhile, the United States and Iran are reportedly moving closer to a potential agreement aimed at ending the conflict and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, though Iran has yet to respond to the Trump administration\u2019s latest offer. The proposed framework is a\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight:400\">one-page plan that would formally declare the war over and begin a 30-day negotiation period focused on Iran\u2019s nuclear program, the unfreezing of Iranian assets, and reopening the vital shipping lane.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/cia-assessment-counters-trump-claim-on-iran-missile-losses\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A CIA assessment presented to Trump administration officials this week reportedly found that Iran still possesses roughly 70% of its prewar missile stockpile even after weeks of U.S. and Israeli strikes. The Islamic regime also retains about 75% of its mobile launchers, according to a report from The Washington Post. An intelligence source familiar with [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22054,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-24259","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-current-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24259\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}