Iran repairs bombed missile launchers, silos in just hours? Report casts doubt on impact of US-Israel attacks

Iranian operatives have been able to repair underground missile bunkers and silos—damaged due to US-Israel bombing—within hours after they are struck, according to recent US intelligence reports.

According to officials, this enables Tehran to launch about 20 missiles a day at Israel—one or two missiles at a time—while others estimate that Iran was firing 15-30 ballistic missiles and 50-100 kamikaze (one-way) drones.

This has again cast doubt on the Donald Trump administration's rhetoric around the war, as per a New York Times report.

In fact, earlier this week, the Pentagon claimed that it had struck 11,000 military targets in the war, in line with one of Washington's war objectives of "severely diminishing" Iran's missile capabilities.

"Of note, the last 24 hours saw the lowest number of enemy missiles and drones fired by Iran. They will go underground, but we will find them," defence secretary Pete Hegseth had said on Monday.

Another issue that complicates US efforts at attrition is the fact that Iran is being very careful with using its remaining arsenal of missile launchers and silos, often hiding them in bunkers and caves, and using them carefully.

While an earlier CNN report estimated that half of Iran's missile launchers and silos were still intact, the new intelligence reports agreed that the number of munitions Tehran has is around that figure, not offering any specifics.

In that regard, despite US-Israel strikes damaging both the administration and the military facilities of Iran, it manages to use these munitions carefully in a way that keeps the pressure on Israel and the Gulf countries around it.

A third tactic that plays to Iran's strengths is the use of decoys, which has had a serious impact on US intelligence assessments of Iran's military capabilities.

This is because the use of decoys makes it hard for the US to clearly understand how many real munitions it had destroyed, as the ones that it bombed could very likely have been decoys.

Yet, the war in the Gulf continues for well past a month, as the US shows no clear signs of an exit, and Iran refuses negotiations for ceasefires, stating that it is only interested in ending the war.