{"id":387099,"date":"2026-04-11T18:22:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T18:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/387099\/"},"modified":"2026-04-11T18:22:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T18:22:14","slug":"us-intel-said-to-assess-iran-can-recover-underground-launchers-fire-thousands-of-missiles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/387099\/","title":{"rendered":"US intel said to assess Iran can recover underground launchers, fire thousands of missiles"},"content":{"rendered":"

US officials assess that Iran retains thousands of missiles it can fire by recovering launchers buried underground, and they are concerned Iran will work to rebuild its ballistic capabilities during the break in the fighting with the US and Israel, the Wall Street Journal<\/a> reported Friday.<\/p>\n

An Israeli official cited by the Kan public broadcaster also said Iran was deploying bulldozers to repair entrances to underground missile storage facilities that had been struck by the Israel Defense Forces.<\/p>\n

The damage that the US and Israel have inflicted on Iran \u201cis not irreparable, and in the absence of a significant agreement, the IDF will have to go back to [fight] Iran,\u201d the unnamed Israeli official was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n

The US and Israel launched a bombing campaign on Iran on February 28 in a bid to destabilize its regime and destroy its ballistic missile and nuclear programs. Iran responded with missile and drone strikes across the region.<\/p>\n

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters this week that the bombing campaign had \u201cfunctionally destroyed\u201d Iran\u2019s missile program and rendered its military \u201ccombat ineffective for years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tGet The Times of Israel’s Daily Edition
\n\t\t\tby email and never miss our top stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tBy signing up, you agree to the terms<\/a><\/p>\n

However, US officials cited by the Wall Street Journal said Iran could dig out or fix many of the launchers that were damaged or buried underground in the US-Israeli bombing campaign.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tBoys stand on a launcher of an Iranian domestically built missile during an annual rally marking the 1979 Islamic Revolution at the Azadi (Freedom) Square in Tehran, Iran, on February 11, 2026. (AP Photo\/Vahid Salemi)<\/p>\n

Iran also has thousands of medium- and short-range ballistic missiles that it can retrieve from storage spaces above and below ground, despite about half of its existing stockpile being used up or destroyed in strikes, according to US and Israeli officials cited by the Journal.<\/p>\n

Additionally, Iran still has a small stockpile of cruise missiles that it could fire at ships in the Persian Gulf or US troops who try to seize the Strait of Hormuz, said US officials cited by the Journal.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, US officials told the Journal, while over half of Iran\u2019s drone stockpile has been used up or destroyed in strikes, it could buy more from Russia.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tA fire and plume of smoke rise after, according to authorities, debris from an intercepted Iranian drone struck an oil facility in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, March 14, 2026. (AP Photo\/Altaf Qadri)<\/p>\n

According to the IDF<\/a>, Israel destroyed about 200 of Iran\u2019s estimated 470 ballistic missile launchers, and another 80 were deemed inoperable after the entrances to their underground storage facilities were struck.<\/p>\n

The IDF has said the most significant blow of the bombing campaign was to Iran\u2019s weapons production industry, and that Iran cannot currently produce any more missiles.<\/p>\n

The Wall Street Journal said Iran will have to rely on Russia and China to rebuild its missile program.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tSmoke rises following strikes on Tehran on April 7, 2026. (ATTA KENARE \/ AFP)<\/p>\n

That assessment dovetailed with a CNN report that indicated China was working to ship air defense systems to Iran amid the two-week ceasefire with Israel and the US.<\/p>\n

Citing three\u202f people familiar with recent intelligence assessments, CNN<\/a> reported Saturday that\u00a0US intelligence indicates China is \u202fpreparing to deliver to Iran shoulder-fired anti-air missile systems known as MANPADs.<\/p>\n

Two of the unnamed sources were cited saying China was working to route the shipments\u202f through third countries to\u202f mask their origin.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tHome Front Command search and rescue forces work amid the rubble of a residential building struck by an Iranian missile in Haifa, April 6, 2026. (Israel Defense Forces)<\/p>\n

In a statement to CNN, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington denied the claims and said, \u201cChina has never provided weapons to any party to the conflict.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe urge the US side to refrain from making baseless allegations,\u201d said the spokesperson. \u201cWe hope that relevant parties will do more to help de-escalate tensions.\u201d<\/p>\n

China is a major importer of Iranian oil and reportedly applied last-minute pressure to secure the two-week ceasefire in Iran.<\/p>\n

NYT: Iran can\u2019t find and remove its mines in Hormuz<\/p>\n

Iran cannot reopen the Strait of Hormuz for shipping because it\u2019s unable to find and remove all the mines it placed in the waterway throughout the war, according to US officials cited by The New York Times<\/a> on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Announcing the truce on Wednesday, US President Donald Trump had said it was conditioned on Iran reopening the strait, whose closure has choked off close to a fifth of the world\u2019s oil shipments. Indirect US-Iran peace talks were set to begin in Islamabad on Saturday.<\/p>\n

US officials told the Times that apparent safe routes through the mines provided by Iran\u2019s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were limited due to Tehran\u2019s careless mining of the strait.<\/p>\n

The report noted that both the US and Iran lack the capabilities to remove nautical mines. Some mines, according to the report, are also able to drift, while it is unclear whether Iran documented each mine it placed in the waterway.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tFishing boats dot the sea as cargo ships, in the background, sail through the Persian Gulf toward the Strait of Hormuz off the United Arab Emirates, March 27, 2026. (AP)<\/p>\n

The US has claimed that the strait was opened up already on Wednesday, denying reports that Iran was holding up much of the traffic and charging a toll.<\/p>\n

Over the past few days, Trump appeared to acknowledge that Iran was in fact blocking ships from using the channel, with the president issuing a series of Truth Social posts threatening Iran.<\/p>\n

Tehran has pledged to continue blocking traffic until Israel stops striking its Lebanese terror proxy Hezbollah, which Iran and Pakistani mediators say was supposed to be part of the ceasefire. The US has said there was a \u201clegitimate misunderstanding\u201d on that issue, while insisting that it never agreed to include Lebanon in the truce.<\/p>\n

Jacob Magid, Emanuel Fabian and Reuters contributed to this report.<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\tYou appreciate our wartime journalism\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWe\u2019re really pleased that you\u2019ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month. \n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

You clearly find our careful reporting of the Iran war valuable, at a time when facts are often distorted and news coverage often lacks context.<\/p>\n

Your support is essential to continue our work. We want to continue delivering the professional journalism you value, even as the demands on our newsroom have grown dramatically during this ongoing conflict.<\/p>\n

So today, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6 a month you’ll become our partners while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing\u00a0exclusive content\u00a0available only to Times of Israel Community members.<\/p>\n

Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel<\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tJoin Our Community\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\tJoin Our Community\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\tAlready a member? Sign in to stop seeing this<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"US officials assess that Iran retains thousands of missiles it can fire by recovering launchers buried underground, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387100,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-387099","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387099","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387099"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387099\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}