Israeli officials shocked by rapid recovery of Iran's military capabilities

Israeli defense officials have been shocked by the rapid recovery of Iran’s military capabilities since the heavy bombardment by the US and Israel in the opening stages of the conflict, the Jerusalem Post has reported.

Earlier this week, a senior adviser to the chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) said that Iran’s output of ballistic missiles and drones exceeds the rate at which they are being deployed. “Even if the war lasts for several years, our ballistic missiles will continue to rain down on the enemy,” Brigadier General Mohammad-Reza Naqdi told Press TV.

In an article on Thursday, the Jerusalem Post said it has independently confirmed that statements by senior Iranian officials of accelerated arms production in the country are accurate.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has claimed for months that Iran’s defense industry was set back years after US and Israeli forces attacked the country around 30,000 times, striking over 2,600 missile and industrial military targets, during the hottest phase of the conflict in late February and early April, the article read.

But now both the IDF and Mossad intelligence agency acknowledge that they did not expect Tehran to restore its stockpiles of ballistic missiles and other key weapons so quickly, it said.

According to Israeli officials, the Iranians were not only able to swiftly access underground missile sites affected by the US-Israeli airstrikes, but also figured out other creative ways to rebuild their arsenals.

If Tehran keeps manufacturing between 100 to 300 missiles per month, it could become a prohibitive threat for Israel already in 2028, the paper suggested.

This possibility will likely influence broader Israeli strategy about when and if another attack on Iran might be needed, it added.

When approached for comment by the Jerusalem Post, an Israeli military spokesperson said that “from the nature of the issues at hand, it is not in our ability to specify concrete evaluations regarding the pace of the [Iranian] rehabilitation because giving such specifics could expose IDF sources and methods.”

“The IDF will continue to analyze developments and to be prepared accordingly,” the spokesman stressed.

While Israel has refrained from military action against Iran since June, the standoff between Washington and Tehran over the Strait of Hormuz continues.

The traffic in the key waterway, which accounts for a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas trade, has reduced to eight ships per day amid reports of more strikes on vessels, according to Reuters. It stood at between 130 and 140 ships daily before the conflict.

US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that the Americans had “total control” over the strait. Tehran denied the claim the next day, saying that the waterway remains “under Iran’s control and management” and will stay closed until the US changes its behavior.