Your war dramas cannot hide US exhaustion, Iran warns Trump

Acting Defense Minister Brigadier General Majid Ebn-e-Reza has dismissed President Donald Trump's new claim that Iran’s military has been obliterated, warning that his “imaginary war dramas” cannot conceal the reality that US forces are exhausted.

“Do not hide the confusion in the White House behind imaginary war dramas,” Ebn-e-Reza wrote on X Thursday.

“Public pressure, the exhaustion of US forces, and the rising costs of war have thrown your calculations into disarray.”

Ebn-e-Reza’s statement apparently came in direct response to Trump’s interview with Time magazine, in which he claimed Iran’s military had been completely destroyed. 

“Their navy is gone. Their air force is gone. Everything’s gone,” Trump said. He claimed that “159 ships are at the bottom of the sea”.

Iranian judicial authorities have revealed that the overwhelming majority of vessels destroyed were civilian fishing boats, not military targets.

Ali Kazemi, spokesman for Iran’s Judiciary, announced during a visit to the Posht-e Shahr pier in Bandar Abbas that US attacks damaged approximately 420 fishing vessels and 340 commercial vessels in Hormozgan Province, with scores of fishermen killed and injured.

In his typical bluster, Trump also claimed that “all their planes are gone,” and that Iran has “no radar, no anti-aircraft capability, nothing.” He went on further to claim that “their whole military is gone” and that “maybe they’ll be next”.

“Claims of the destruction of the defense industry change nothing,” Ebn-e-Reza responded. “You will see Iranian capability and initiative on the battlefield and will feel its political impact.” 

Classified US intelligence assessments directly undercut Trump’s narrative. According to The Washington Post, a confidential CIA assessment concluded that Iran retains approximately 75% of its mobile missile launchers and about 70% of its pre-war missile stockpile.

‘Surprises in store’: Iran’s Armed Forces vow to counter any fresh aggression with ‘new technologies’

The Iranian Armed Forces’ spokesman warns that any potential aggression against the Islamic Republic will be met with “new military technologies.”

The New York Times also found that roughly 90% of Iran’s underground missile storage and launch facilities were “partially or fully operational”.

The CIA assessment further found evidence that Iran has reactivated almost all of its underground storage facilities, that new missiles are being assembled within them, and that ballistic missile production has actually accelerated.

While the Trump administration claims Iran’s military has been destroyed, the US military itself is facing critical shortages.

According to The Wall Street Journal, US forces fired more than 1,000 Tomahawk cruise missiles during two months of war.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies estimates the US has used approximately one-third of its pre-war Tomahawk stockpile and roughly half of its Patriot interceptor inventory.

Brigadier General Hossein Mohebbi, spokesman for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, stated Wednesday that the United States no longer enjoys the favorable conditions it once had.

He noted that the number of US bases in the region is now roughly half of what it used to be, with American forces forced to relocate to aircraft carriers at least 500 kilometers from Iran and to more distant bases.

Regarding the Strait of Hormuz, Mohebbi said military confrontations occur roughly every 24 hours, yet the Americans have not responded to these actions for some time.

“The Americans have come to recognize Iran’s military capabilities and strength,” he said, adding that Washington had previously believed a mere show of force would compel Tehran to capitulate.

Army Ground Force Commander Brigadier General Ali Jahanshahi has said that Iran’s armed forces are more prepared in terms of capabilities, combat readiness and operational reserves than before the imposed war.

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