According to US media reports, Iran still has most of its inventory of mobile launch pads and missiles. Donald Trump claims otherwise, calling the reports “treason.”
May 13, 2026, 05:26May 13, 2026, 05:44
The New York Times reports on findings from US intelligence agencies that Iran still has around 70 percent of its mobile launch pads and around 70 percent of the missile arsenal it had before the war. The newspaper relies on people familiar with the intelligence findings from earlier this month. It is said that Iran now has access to most of its underground missile storage facilities again.
A worker next to an Iranian missile that landed near an Israeli settlement in the West Bank.Image: keystone
The Washington Post had already reported on a US intelligence analysis last week and cited similar figures. Iran still has about 75 percent of its pre-war inventory of mobile launchers and about 70 percent of its missiles, the newspaper quoted a US official as saying. He also referred to indications that the Iranian leadership was able to put almost all of its underground storage facilities back into operation, repair some damaged missiles and complete some new missiles.
The New York Times also reports that some senior officials are particularly alarmed by indications that Iran has restored access to most of the missile sites it maintains along the Strait of Hormuz. There is currently a fragile ceasefire in the Iran war, and negotiations to end the war have stalled.
Trump criticizes reporting and speaks of “TREASON”
On Tuesday, Trump once again criticized the media coverage of the Iran war on his Truth Social platform, without naming specific articles.
“If the fake news claims that the Iranian enemy is doing well against us militarily, it is practically TREASON in that it is such a false and even absurd claim.”
They supported the enemy, the US President raged.
The US President doesn’t like the US media’s reporting.Image: keystone
The reports in the New York Times and the Washington Post stand in stark contrast to the US government’s depiction that Iran has largely been defeated militarily by the war that Israel and the US began at the end of February. They also come at a time when the direct and indirect costs of the war are a recurring topic in the USA.
The fact that the Trump administration does not always inform the US population transparently has become apparent several times. During the attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities last year, Trump asserted emphatically that the Iranian nuclear program had been largely destroyed and set back years. At that time, too, he lambasted media reports to the contrary as well as analyzes from his own ministries that suggested a different, less successful outcome of the air strikes.
With the renewed attacks on Iran this year, Trump essentially refuted his previous claims by once again citing the danger of Iran’s nuclear program as one of the central justifications for the war.
Concern about ammunition and missile consumption
There is currently criticism of the US government over the consumption of resources caused by the war and any associated shortages in stocks. US Senator and Army veteran Mark Kelly recently said that the US military’s ammunition and missile stocks had been severely depleted. As a member of the Armed Forces Committee, the Pentagon had informed the Democrat about certain types of ammunition – according to Kelly’s statement, this included information about Tomahawk, ATACMS, SM-3 missiles or those for Patriot anti-aircraft systems.
Chief of Staff Dan Caine emphasized that the US military’s regional commands had reported sufficient ammunition supplies for current missions. However, skeptics are less concerned about current operations and more concerned with the question of whether the US military’s ammunition stocks would be sufficient for another possible major conflict, for example over Taiwan. (sda/dpa/con)