CENTCOM Commander Admiral Brad Cooper testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., May 14, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Newly uncovered U.S. intelligence reports have debunked claims made by a leading Trump administration admiral during sworn testimony about the damage done to Iran, per CNN, with new estimates showing that they are much closer to rebuilding key military capabilities than once thought.
Admiral Brad Cooper, commander for U.S. CENTCOM under President Donald Trump, testified before the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday. At one point, he made a claim about the extent of the destruction that Trump's war had caused for the Iranian military, and asserted that they would need years to rebuild.
"Operation Epic Fury significantly degraded Iran's ballistic missiles and drones while destroying 90 percent of their defense industrial base, ensuring that Iran cannot reconstitute for years," Cooper said during the testimony.
This claim was cited during a Thursday segment on CNN's News Central, where host Brianna Keilar discussed newly uncovered intelligence reports that revealed estimates that Iran is actively "rebuilding key parts of its military," including its "expansive drone program." Sources who spoke with the network said that Iran could have these capabilities in a matter of months, not years.
"We're learning some new details about how quickly Iran appears to be rebuilding key parts of its military, and that includes its expansive drone program, which, according to a source, could be fully rebuilt in as little as six months," Keilar said. "Multiple sources telling CNN, U.S. intel indicates during this now six-week ceasefire, Iran is reconstituting its military capabilities a lot faster than expected, one official saying the Iranians have, quote, exceeded all timelines."
Senior national security reporter Zachary Cohen joined the broadcast to dig in deeper on this report, and how it conflicts with Cooper's claim.
"We're told that Iran is actively rebuilding production facilities and military capabilities that were destroyed by U.S.-Israeli airstrikes, and they're doing so much more quickly than the U.S.intelligence community initially thought they could," Cohen explained. "And that's something that we're hearing concerns about from U.S. officials, who are saying that Iran is reconstituting and doing so on a very rapid timeline. And that includes things like trying to replace missile sites, launchers and their industrial base writ large, which the U.S. and Israel did inflict serious damage on."
He continued: "So not only does Iran still maintain significant ballistic missile and drone capability, but we're told that they are already producing more drones to replace the ones that they've lost during the conflict. One U.S. official [told] me that they could completely reconstitute their drone attack capability in a matter of six months. So a much more accelerated timeline than the one Cooper was laying out..."
