President Donald Trump has been left looking foolish after his own experts’ intelligence appears to contradict his claims of military success in Iran.
Despite Trump assuring the American public on Wednesday that the core objectives of his war on Iran were “nearing completion” and that the U.S. had “beaten and completely decimated Iran,” new intelligence assessments suggest this does not reflect the reality on the ground.
The 79-year-old has previously offered up a variety of objectives for the war dubbed Operation Epic Fury by the White House, including combating terrorism, enabling regime change, as a preemptive measure in response to reports that Iran was going to strike the U.S., and to prevent the country from obtaining nuclear weapons.
The Trump administration has maintained that it is continuing to achieve the objectives laid out by Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, with the president telling Americans on Wednesday that Iran’s “ability to launch missiles and drones is dramatically curtailed, and their weapons factories and rocket launchers are being blown to pieces, very few of them left.”
Now, U.S. intelligence assessments suggest that roughly half of Iran’s missile launchers remain intact and the country’s arsenal still boasts thousands of one-way attack drones, directly contradicting the president’s claims about the nation’s firepower being significantly diminished.
The country also maintains a large number of missiles.
Three sources familiar with the intelligence confirmed its veracity to CNN, with one of the sources telling the outlet of Iran, “They are still very much poised to wreak absolute havoc throughout the entire region.”
The sources who spoke to CNN said that the intelligence did show that strikes conducted on Iran—hitting more than 12,300 targets—have degraded the country’s military capabilities and killed several senior political figures, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the head of Iran’s National Security Council, Ali Larijani.
Retaliatory strikes from Iran, meanwhile, have killed more than a dozen U.S. service members stationed across the region and wounded hundreds more. The president claimed in his Wednesday address that the families of the 13 slain service members had urged him to “finish the job.”
“We must honor them by completing the mission for which they gave their lives, and every single one of the people, their loved ones said, ‘Please, sir, please, finish the job,’” Trump said.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment. White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told CNN that “anonymous sources desperately want to attack President Trump and demean the incredible work of our United States Military in achieving the goals of Operation Epic Fury.”
“Here are the facts: Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks are down 90 percent, their navy is wiped out, two-thirds of their production facilities are damaged or destroyed, and the United States and Israel have overwhelming air dominance over Iran,” Kelly continued.
“The terrorist regime is being decimated militarily and their dismal situation grows bleaker by the day—their only hope is to make a deal with President Trump’s administration and leave behind their nuclear ambitions for good. Otherwise, they will be hit harder than they’ve ever been hit before.”
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell called CNN’s reporting “completely wrong,” telling the outlet, “The United States military has delivered a crippling series of blows to the Iranian regime.”
“We are far ahead of schedule on accomplishing our military objectives,” he continued before listing them, “destroy Iran’s missile arsenal, annihilate their Navy, destroy their terrorist proxies, and ensure Iran can never obtain a nuclear weapon.”
One source who spoke to CNN also cast doubt on the president’s claim, made in his Wednesday address, that U.S. operations in Iran would wind down in two to three weeks, telling the outlet that such a goal was unrealistic.
“We can keep f---ing them up, I don’t doubt it, but you’re out of your mind if you think this will be done in two weeks,” the source told CNN.
