One of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's main defenses of the U.S. decision to negotiate a controversial ceasefire with Iran is that its ballistic missile program has been "functionally destroyed."
But that claim has now been shot down by U.S. intelligence assessments, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.
"Iran still has thousands of ballistic missiles in its arsenal that it could use by retrieving launchers from underground storage areas, according to American officials familiar with U.S. intelligence assessments," said the report. "The assessments come as the U.S. is working to cement a cease-fire that would fully open the Strait of Hormuz and also insulate Iran, American troops and states in the region from further attacks. Some American officials said they are concerned that Iran will use the break in fighting to reconstitute some of its missile arsenal."
The conflict has taken a toll on Iran, with around half of its missile stockpile lost, the assessment found — but "it retains thousands of medium- and short-range ballistic missiles that could be pulled out of hiding or retrieved from underground sites, said U.S. and Israeli officials."
This comes as even a number of Republican and conservative analysts are crying foul about the terms of the ceasefire, which appear one-sidedly in favor of Iran.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump himself appears to have had a different understanding of the ceasefire's terms than Iran, as he accused the country of violating the terms on Thursday. And the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world's oil traffic is shipped, remains heavily blocked by the conflict.