Can Iran’s missiles hit the United States and Europe? What Trump said versus what the intelligence shows

Sources familiar with the intelligence findings told CNN there is no evidence that Iran is currently actively pursuing an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program aimed at attacking the United States. An unclassified 2025 Defense Intelligence Agency assessment said Iran could develop a “militarily viable” intercontinental ballistic missile by 2035 if it chose to develop one, but that timeline would extend by nearly a decade.

Officials briefing reporters after the attack said Iran posed an “intolerable risk” due to its development of long-range missiles.

Also read: ‘Israel has succeeded in dragging the United States into the quagmire of war with Iran’: Ambassador Amir Saeed Irawani

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he would not speculate on how close Iran is to achieving an intercontinental ballistic missile, but insisted Tehran was “definitely” moving in that direction. He also viewed Iran’s refusal to discuss its ballistic missile program in recent indirect talks as “a big problem.”

White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told CNN that the president is right to be concerned that Iran may possess intercontinental ballistic missiles.

While Iran possesses a large number of short- and medium-range ballistic missiles capable of striking Israel, U.S. bases in the region and parts of Europe, there is no intelligence that it is imminently capable of striking the U.S. mainland.

Also read: White House slammed for photos of Trump and others overseeing Iran attacks, ‘This isn’t even a situation room…’

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told India Today TV that Tehran “deliberately limits the range of our missiles to 2,000 kilometers,” calling it defensive.

The nuclear issue is also controversial.

Matthew Bunn of the Harvard Kennedy School told USA TODAY that claims that Iran is on the verge of building a nuclear weapon are exaggerated, saying: “It’s not true.”

U.S. officials acknowledge that Iran has uranium enriched to a purity of 60 percent and can technically be refined further. However, CNN and USA Today quoted analysts as saying that rebuilding enrichment facilities damaged in previous attacks would take far longer than a week.