Posted on 05/12/2026 8:11:26 PM PDT by Red Badger
Secret new assessments say Iran has operational access to 30 of its 33 missile sites along the Strait of Hormuz, suggesting that its military remains far stronger than President Trump has asserted.
The Trump administration’s public portrayal of a shattered Iranian military is sharply at odds with what U.S. intelligence agencies are telling policymakers behind closed doors, according to classified assessments from early this month that show Iran has regained access to most of its missile sites, launchers and underground facilities.
Most alarming to some senior officials is evidence that Iran has restored operational access to 30 of the 33 missile sites it maintains along the Strait of Hormuz, which could threaten American warships and oil tankers transiting the narrow waterway.
People with knowledge of the assessments said they show — to varying degrees, depending on the level of damage incurred at the different sites — that the Iranians can use mobile launchers that are inside the sites to move missiles to other locations. In some cases they can launch missiles directly from launchpads that are part of the facilities. Only three of the missile sites along the strait remain totally inaccessible, according to the assessments.
Iran still fields about 70 percent of its mobile launchers across the country and has retained roughly 70 percent of its prewar missile stockpile, according to the assessments. That stockpile encompasses both ballistic missiles, which can target other nations in the region, and a smaller supply of cruise missiles, which can be used against shorter-range targets on land or at sea.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
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The goalposts keep moving. First it’s just nuclear, then the first uranium enrichment level, then the next uranium enrichment level, and now missiles. Next, drones...etc...
Maggie Haberman................
Past wars have proven Air Power doesn’t always work as hoped...Boots on the ground is the only method to ensuring a solution to a war.
A meeting behind closed doors but the lying a-holes at the NYT magically know what was reported, yeah right.
Afghanistan was a piece of cake to subdue.
Iran should be no different.
I say to the Times bullshit. I trust nothing the intelligence community feeds the public.
that they had knowledge of the assessments ... without evidence.
I trust nothing the New York Times claims somebody fed it.
Says the NY Slimes. 🙄
“Secret new assessments“. Secret?
Not so much.
I’m sure our satellite reconnaissance has Iran’s missals being tracked. Once the cease fire is over, we will know what to hit.
NY Times! LOL!
I’m sure our satellite reconnaissance has Iran’s missiles being tracked. Once the cease fire is over, we will know what to hit.
Thank goodness traitorous communist scum like these in the intelligence services were not in existence during WWII...
They were mostly concentrated in the WH and State Dept...
More classified info leaks? To the NY Times?
If “the intelligence community” knows where these missile sites are perhaps they could share that with the Dept. of War as well as the NYTs.
MOAB the Iranian coast…problem solved
Roosevelt almost shut the NY Times down during WW2 because of news leaks. The NYT has been the enemy of America since the Civil War.
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