Iran has restored access to many of its underground missile facilities, raising concerns that it could continue launching long-range missiles if tensions with Israel and the United States escalate again.
According to an analysis of satellite imagery, Iranian authorities have spent weeks clearing debris, reopening tunnel entrances and repairing damaged roads at key missile bases that were targeted during recent military operations by the US and Israel.
During the conflict, both countries focused on blocking access to Iran’s underground missile network by bombing tunnel entrances and surrounding infrastructure. The strikes were intended to limit Tehran’s ability to deploy missile launchers and sustain attacks.
However, experts say Iran has relied on basic construction equipment, including bulldozers, front-end loaders and dump trucks, to restore access to many of the facilities.
Satellite images reportedly show that Iran has reopened 50 of the 69 tunnel entrances that were struck at 18 separate underground missile sites. Roads damaged during the attacks have also been repaired, with some sections repaved.
Military analysts argue that while the strikes caused significant disruption, they did not destroy the missiles stored deep underground.
Sam Lair, a research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, said Iran still possesses the capability to continue missile operations.
“There’s nothing to prevent the launchers from being armed with the ample stockpile of missiles that the Iranians still have,” he said.
Lair added that Iran could keep firing missiles “so long as they have launchers and crews, even if production has halted.”
President Donald Trump had previously identified the destruction of Iran’s missile capabilities as one of the central objectives of the military campaign. In a March post on Truth Social, he listed “completely degrading Iranian Missile Capability, Launchers, and everything else pertaining to them” among the war’s primary goals.
Despite those efforts, experts believe Iran may still possess around 1,000 missiles stored within its underground network.
Timur Kadyshev, a senior researcher at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg, said Iran spent decades preparing for such a scenario.
“They were preparing for this kind of war for 20 years,” he said. “They are very prepared.”
The restoration work has been extensive. At several locations, satellite imagery captured construction crews filling bomb craters, clearing tunnel entrances and rebuilding access routes damaged during the conflict.
Analysts also warned that Iran may eventually restore parts of its missile production infrastructure. Some facilities targeted in previous military operations had reportedly been rebuilt before the latest round of attacks.
US intelligence assessments have indicated that Iran has already resumed some military activities, including drone production and efforts to replace missile launchers and manufacturing capacity.
One US official claimed Iran’s recovery efforts were progressing faster than expected.
“The Iranians have exceeded all timelines the (intelligence community) had for reconstitution,” the official said.
Kadyshev noted the contrast between the sophisticated weapons used in the attacks and the relatively simple tools required for reconstruction.
“You have to use very sophisticated, very expensive weapons to do this kind of damage, and the recovery is very low tech – it’s just bulldozers,” he said.
Although Iran and the United States have reached a preliminary agreement regarding the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, analysts say the recovery of Iran’s missile infrastructure highlights the challenges of permanently neutralising the country’s underground military network.
