Iran rebuilt military capacity faster than expected during ceasefire, says US intelligence

Iran has been rebuilding its military capacity much faster than expected during a six-week ceasefire with the US and Israel, according to new US intelligence reports.

The ceasefire provided an opportunity for Tehran to restart its production of drones, replace missile sites and reignite its production capacity, four US officials told CNN.

“The Iranians have exceeded all timelines the IC [the intelligence community] had for reconstitution,” one official said.

Top Iranian diplomat and parliamentary speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf said on Wednesday that the country had used the opportunity to “rebuild” its strength and military capability.

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The US reports appear to support this and attribute Iran’s success to two main factors. Firstly, Tehran has continued to receive support from Russia and Ukraine and secondly the US and Israel did not inflict as much damage as originally hoped for, one source told the broadcaster.

Some US intelligence estimates suggest that Iran could fully reconstitute its drone attack capabilities in as soon as six months, according to one US official, although the production length of individual components varies.

Two sources familiar with US intelligence assessments told CNN that China had continued to provide Iran with components use to build missiles throughout the conflict, although this has likely been curtailed by the US blockade.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu had accused China of supporting Iran with components, but China denied the accusations with foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun saying the allegation was “not based on facts.”

Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told CNN in a statement that “America’s military is the most powerful in the world and has everything it needs to execute at the time and place of the President’s choosing.”

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“We have executed multiple successful operations across combatant commands while ensuring the U.S. military possesses a deep arsenal of capabilities to protect our people and our interests,” Parnell added.

A previous investigation by CNN revealed that Iranian attacks had damaged a majority of US bases in the Middle East.

The analysis corroborates reports by The Independent earlier this month that at least 60 per cent of Iran’s missiles have survived the US-Israeli attacks while nuclear facilities remained largely unharmed, according to sources.

“Whatever anyone is saying in public, we estimate that the Iranians have at least 60 per cent of their missile capability. How else can you explain, for example, how they can continue to attack Gulf nations with missiles and drones?” said a senior Nato source in Europe.

Earlier this month, US intelligence showed that Iran retained a substantial amount of its missile capabilities, according to a report in the New York Times.

It found that Iran had restored operational access to 30 of the 33 missile sites it maintains along the Strait of Hormuz, contrary to the picture of a defeated Iranian military painted by President Donald Trump.

He had previously claimed that Iran's navy is “lying at the bottom of the sea, completely obliterated”,

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