WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said Iran’s military is largely defeated after weeks of U.S. pummeling. But the regime maintains significant military capability, including thousands of missiles and one-way attack drones, according to a recent statement to lawmakers from the Pentagon’s internal intelligence agency.
“Iran retains thousands of missiles and one-way attack [drones] that can threaten U.S. and partner forces throughout the region, despite degradations to its capabilities from both attrition and expenditure,” Lt. Gen. James Adams, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said in a public question-and-answer document provided on Thursday to the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Intelligence and Special Operations. The panel hosted Adams for a hearing that same day, and the document is a routine component of such hearings.
In addition, more than half of Iran’s Air Force and more than half of its specialized Navy vessels also remain intact, according to three U.S. officials familiar with a separate internal Trump administration intelligence assessment. This is despite Hegseth’s public declarations that the Iranian Air Force “has been wiped out” and its Navy is “at the bottom of the sea.”
