US 'cannot locate Iran’s missile launchers'

 US forces have been unable to locate all of Iran’s missile launch sites, officials have disclosed.

Donald Trump, the US president, told CBS News on Monday that the American-Israeli war with Iran was “very complete, pretty much”. He added: “We’re very far ahead of schedule”.

However, Iran’s missile attacks have continued, and two unnamed military officials have claimed that the Pentagon does not have “full clarity” on all of its enemy’s launch sites, according to The New York Times.

The sources said that Iran had “kept many missiles in reserve to strike at important battlefield targets like the American radars” designed to identify threats.

It is the latest report to raise questions about the Trump administration’s strategy and the decisions it made leading up to the war.

Some officials have suggested that Mr Trump and his advisers misjudged how Iran would respond.

Unlike last year’s 12-day war, Iran has fired barrages of missiles and drones at US military bases across the Gulf, with cities in Arab nations, such as Dubai, among those hit.

Before the war began, some military advisers had warned that Iran could launch an aggressive campaign in response and would view the US-Israeli attacks as a threat to its existence, according to The New York Times.

Other advisers were confident that killing senior ruling figures in Iran would lead to more pragmatic leaders taking over, who might bring an end to the war.

Meanwhile, reports that the US turned down a Ukrainian offer to buy battle-proven technology for downing Iranian-made attack drones are expected to raise further concerns.

US officials told Axios that snubbing the proposal was one of the biggest tactical miscalculations by the Trump administration.

The US news website reported that during a White House meeting in August, Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, offered Mr Trump low-cost interceptor drones.

How Ukraine’s ‘Sting’ interceptors work:

The proposal was reportedly part of efforts to strengthen ties between the nations and to show his thanks for US support during Kyiv’s war with Russia.

But the offer was dismissed, with one US official suggesting that there may have been concerns in the administration that Mr Zelensky was seen as a self-promoter from a state that did not command enough respect.

Iranian Shahed drones have since been linked to the deaths of seven US service members. The US formally asked Mr Zelensky for help in tackling the drones last Thursday, The New York Times reported.

On Wednesday, an analysis by the same newspaper revealed that during the war so far, Iran has damaged at least 17 US sites and other installations – several of which had been struck more than once.

US embassies, military bases and defence infrastructure have all been hit since Iran began firing thousands of missiles and drones at both the US and allied countries’ military sites across the region.

American officials also told The New York Times that the intensity of Iran’s retaliation suggests the regime may have been more prepared for war than the Trump administration anticipated.

A Pentagon assessment disclosed to Congress last week estimated that the cost of the single strike on the US Navy Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain on Feb 28 stood at $200m (£150m), a congressional official told the newspaper.

The Trump administration has also been weighing whether to send US commandos to raid one of Iran’s key nuclear sites.

Iran is scrambling to salvage highly enriched uranium through a narrow entrance to underground bunkers in Isfahan. This could be used to build nuclear bombs.

The US president said he was considering whether to send in special troops to secure the uranium in the bunkers, which were hit by American bombs in June.

The Iranians are believed to have at least 450kg of 60 per cent enriched uranium. It would only take weeks to convert it into 90 per cent weapons-grade material, which could be used to make as many as 11 nuclear bombs.

Mr Trump’s previous reassurances over the cost of oil have also been called into question.

Around 10 days before the start of the conflict, Chris Wright, the US energy secretary, argued that the 12-day war with Iran in June 2025 had seen little disruption to oil supplies and told Bloomberg that prices “blipped up and then went back down”.

Yet oil prices swung wildly on Tuesday after Mr Wright tweeted, and then hastily deleted, a post that claimed the US navy had “successfully escorted an oil tanker through the Strait of Hormuz to ensure oil remains flowing to global markets”.

The waterway had been effectively closed for tankers since the Iran war began when the post was published, causing chaos for global oil markets.

Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, later confirmed the claim in the post was false.

Despite the clarification, the market had already been disrupted, with the price of Brent crude moving from a low of $82 a barrel to as high as $92 as a result of the conflicting reports.