Media: Iran claims ongoing missile production despite US-Israeli strikes

Despite sustained US and Israeli military operations, Iran maintains that its missile production continues unabated. General Ali Mohammad Naeini, spokesperson for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), told state-run news agency that the country is producing missiles “even during war conditions, which is amazing, and there is no particular problem in stockpiling,” CBC reports.

Iran’s top military spokesperson, General Abolfazl Shekarchi, further warned that “parks, recreational areas and tourist destinations” worldwide would not be safe for Tehran’s adversaries.

Analysts, however, question the scale of Iran’s capabilities. William Alberque, former director of NATO’s Arms Control, Disarmament and WMD Non-Proliferation Centre, said, “Of course, it’s in Iran’s interest to seem as strong as possible. And so there’s a degree of showmanship and exaggeration here as well.” While above-ground missile production has been hit, Alberque noted, “we don’t know what we don’t know,” particularly regarding underground facilities, which he said likely hold limited capacity for large missiles but sufficient for drones and smaller missiles.

Iran has retaliated since the US-Israeli campaign began on February 28, launching missiles at Israel, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, Kuwait, and Bahrain. Before the war, Iran possessed the region’s largest and most diverse missile arsenal, with estimates ranging from 2,500 to 6,000 missiles, including medium- and short-range ballistic missiles.

US President Donald Trump recently declared Iran’s ballistic missile capability “functionally destroyed,” though General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, acknowledged some capabilities remain. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran’s missile and drone infrastructure had been “massively degraded” with hundreds of launchers destroyed and production facilities targeted.

Gary Samore, director of the Crown Center for Middle East Studies at Brandeis University, told reporters that drone production remains plausible because “they can be manufactured from simple components in anyone’s basement or garage.” However, he doubted that Iran could still mass-produce long-range ballistic missiles due to repeated US and Israeli strikes on known facilities.

Alex Plitsas, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, estimated Iran’s missile production was around 300 per month at the start of the war but may have dropped to roughly 40 per month—a volume he described as “negligible.” Alberque added that daily launch estimates suggest Iran’s missile capacity is “relatively low,” underscoring the difference between showmanship and operational capability.

By Vafa Guliyeva