After a month of relentless bombing, the US can only confirm that a third of Iran’s stockpile of ballistic missiles has been destroyed.
Five people familiar with intelligence assessments told Reuters that the US can only confirm with certainty that a third of Iranian missiles have been destroyed. Tehran’s ballistic missiles are the backbone of its defense strategy. Iran has claimed to possess tens of thousands of ballistic missiles produced and stored in elaborate tunnel networks.
The sources added that the US intelligence community believes another third of Iran’s ballistic missiles have been damaged or are inaccessible. Still, Tehran having access to a third of its missile arsenal gives Iran significant abilities to respond to US and Israeli attacks.
While Iran maintains the ability to fire offensive missiles, the US and Israel are running out of interceptors. The Royal United Services Institute for Defense estimated last week that Israel had fired 80% of its Arrow 2 and 3 interceptors, and the US had used 60% of its THAAD missiles.
A US Congress study warned, “There is concern that the rate of use of THAAD interceptors during Operation Epic Fury has further reduced the limited stock of interceptors.”
Iran has also destroyed about a dozen US radar systems in the Middle East, reducing the rate at which US and Israeli air defenses are able to down missiles.
Iranian missiles are cheaper and can be produced faster than US and Israeli interceptors.
President Donald Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth have touted the US military’s success in degrading Iran’s ability to strike Israel and US bases in the region. Part of the issue in assessing how many missiles Iran has left is that the US and Israel were unsure of the size of Iran’s stockpile prior to launching the war.
Even if Iran possessed a small number of missiles, it would present a major issue if the US attempted ground operations. Multiple outlets have reported that Trump is considering deploying forces to seize Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf or Strait of Hormuz.
