Iran Restores Missile Bases and Other Sites Hit by US and Israeli Strikes More Rapidly Than Anticipated - WSJ

WSJ quoted former IDF air defense chief Brig.-Gen. Ran Kochav as saying that Iran has refilled stockpiles and possesses impressive industrialization along with reconstruction abilities.

Iran succeeded in restoring damaged infrastructure from US and Israeli airstrikes more quickly than anticipated, according to the Wall Street Journal report from Thursday that relied on satellite images from multiple Iranian military locations.

The Wall Street Journal highlighted one example where Planet Labs satellite views from March revealed two tunnel entrances at a suspected Iranian missile base near Kangavar in western Iran along with a damaged access road from the strikes.

Weeks afterward, the Wall Street Journal indicated that Airbus satellite images displayed newly dug entrances and a paved road in place of the prior damage.

In a separate incident, the Wall Street Journal referenced an Israeli military official who stated that Iran had repaired a bridge destroyed only days earlier.

Planet Labs satellite images from early July also captured partial rebuilding work at a shipyard in Bandar Anzali on the Caspian Sea, a facility linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

In March the IDF reported strikes on several Iranian naval targets in the Caspian Sea including a key navy port where numerous vessels were eliminated.

Among the lost ships were four missile-equipped vessels with air defenses and anti-submarine capabilities plus one corvette warship.

They refilled their stockpiles, the Wall Street Journal quoted former IDF air defense chief Brig.-Gen. Ran Kochav as saying. They have very impressive industrialization and reconstruction capabilities.

He noted that Iran's swift recovery aligns with abilities shown in restoring infrastructure and missile supplies following the 12-day Israel-Iran war last June.

Israel and the US frequently only managed to collapse surface entrances to Iranian missile bases without complete destruction, the Wall Street Journal reported, leaving weapon stores intact for later excavation.

Additional Planet Labs satellite images of an Iranian missile base in Dezful struck by Israel in June 2025 and March 2026 showed buried entrances at the site.

Yet Airbus footage three months later reportedly captured Iran digging out multiple tunnel entrances there.

Satellite images from another base in Kermanshah displayed comparable work.

Images from early June indicated construction and rebuilding already in progress after strikes at the start of Operations Epic Fury and Roaring Lion.

More recent Planet Labs images revealed partial reconstruction at Raja Shimi Industries near Tehran based on a King's College London report cited by the Wall Street Journal.

Raja Shimi Industries is said to produce missile components.

Jim Lamson, a visiting research fellow at King's College London and former CIA analyst who authored the report, told the Wall Street Journal that sites producing advanced missile parts such as carbon fiber might require months or years for Iran to restore.

However Lamson observed that Iran may have stored such components in underground locations for near-term use.

Iran Shifted Thousands of Uranium Centrifuges into Protected Pickaxe Mountain

Iran moved thousands of uranium enrichment centrifuges into underground facilities deep within Natanz's Pickaxe Mountain last fall, the Wall Street Journal reported citing Israeli and US officials.

The centrifuges were relocated to the mountain after the 12-day war in June 2025.

During that conflict American and Israeli strikes targeted three of Iran's primary nuclear sites in an operation the US termed Midnight Hammer.

US and Israeli officials observed that relocating sensitive equipment into the mountain heightens worries that Tehran aims to maintain uranium enrichment despite potential large-scale attacks on its territory.

Pickaxe Mountain lies south of the Natanz nuclear complex where two of Iran's uranium enrichment plants were bombed in June 2025.

Tzvi Jasper and Idan Kweller contributed to this report.