Damning Intel Leak Blows Up Pentagon Pete’s Chest-Thumping Claims
Source: Daily Beast
Updated Apr. 11 2026 6:04PM EDT
Published Apr. 11 2026 1:23PM EDTDefense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s chest-thumping claims about Iran’s losses don’t appear to line up with intelligence assessments.
Iran still has thousands of ballistic missiles that could be pulled out of hiding or dug up from underground storage sites, officials familiar with U.S. intelligence assessments revealed to The Wall Street Journal. The report undercuts the self-proclaimed secretary of war’s claims that Iran’s missile program has been obliterated.
“Their missile program is functionally destroyed, launchers, production facilities, and existing stockpiles depleted and decimated and almost completely ineffective,” Hegseth, 45, told reporters on Wednesday as he asserted that “Iran’s air force has been wiped out.”. U.S. intelligence reports paint a more worrying picture, sources told the Journal.
Though American officials have said that more than half of Iran’s missile launchers have been destroyed, damaged, or trapped underground in the conflict, many of them can still be repaired or pulled out of underground complexes, the outlet reported. U.S. and Israeli officials also said that while Iran’s missile inventory has been roughly halved, it retains thousands of medium- and short-range ballistic missiles that could be taken out of hiding or dug up from underground sites.