Kaitlan Collins Reports Half of Iran’s Missile Launchers Are Still Intact
CNN’s Kaitlan Collins reported that around half of Iran’s missile launchers were still intact on Thursday, describing a military force still capable of causing damage despite U.S. and Israeli strikes.
Collins discussed the ongoing U.S. military operation in Iran on The Source, claiming that sources told CNN that the information on Iran’s military capabilities had come from U.S. intelligence.
“As sources are telling us here tonight, that recent U.S. intelligence assessments found roughly half of Iran’s missile launchers are still intact and that thousands of one-way attack drones are still in Iran’s arsenal tonight,” she said. “That’s despite daily U.S. and Israeli airstrikes that we’ve seen against Iranian military targets for the past five weeks.”
The host clarified that despite the staggering number reported, some of these weapons might not be actually functional in conducting warfare.
“And I should note this assessment that my colleagues are reporting on tonight might include launchers that are currently inaccessible, such as those that are buried by strikes or not just completely destroyed,” Collins said.
She also noted that the numbers reported painted a different picture of Iran’s performance in the war than that given by President Donald Trump’s administration.
“The intelligence, though, does offer a more nuanced picture that we’re getting of Iran’s capabilities that they still have right now than what we have heard from the white house since the beginning of this war,” she said.
Trump has claimed on multiple occasions that the U.S. has “won” the war, including in his speech last night when he said that Iran’s “rocket launchers are being blown to pieces, very few of them left.”
“Never in the history of warfare has an enemy suffered such clear and devastating large-scale losses in a matter of weeks,” the president said.
Thousands of Iranian drones have yet to be destroyed, CNN’s print report claims, along with a significant amount of coastal defense cruise missiles.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell characterized the report as “completely wrong.”
“The United States military has delivered a crippling series of blows to the Iranian regime,” Parnell said to the outlet. “We are far ahead of schedule on accomplishing our military objectives: destroy Iran’s missile arsenal, annihilate their Navy, destroy their terrorist proxies, and ensure Iran can never obtain a nuclear weapon.”
Watch above via CNN.
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