Iran Still Holds Thousands of Missiles, Media Says
US President Donald Trump offered a sweeping assessment of the damage inflicted on Iran, saying on Friday that Iran's military "is defeated. Their military is gone. We've degraded just about everything. They have very few missiles. They have very little manufacturing capability. We've hit them hard."
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has similarly declared Iran's missile program "functionally destroyed," asserting that launchers and missiles are largely depleted and rendered ineffective.
However, the Wall Street Journal's reporting, based on sources familiar with current intelligence, tells a more complex story. While more than half of Iran's launchers have been destroyed, damaged, or buried, a significant portion are considered repairable or recoverable. Iran's overall missile stockpile has been reduced by roughly half — yet thousands of medium- and short-range ballistic missiles remain in storage or concealed in underground facilities, ready to be brought back into operational use.
Iran's one-way attack drone inventory has been more severely degraded, falling well below half of its pre-war levels following intensive battlefield use and precision strikes on production infrastructure. Nevertheless, officials noted that Tehran could potentially replenish such systems through Russia.
The disclosures emerge as a fragile two-week ceasefire — brokered through Pakistani mediation — took hold this week, pausing a war that erupted on Feb. 28. Pakistan is also hosting ongoing diplomatic talks aimed at reaching a permanent end to the conflict.
The human cost of the war has been substantial. Iranian authorities report nearly 3,000 nationals killed, while at least 13 US servicemen were killed and dozens more wounded. The conflict also severely disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital conduit for global oil trade.
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