Early in the conflict with Iran, US and Israeli leaders projected confidence that their military campaign had delivered a decisive blow.
US President Donald Trump declared that Iran’s armed forces were in “total disarray,” saying major elements of its military, including the navy and air force, “no longer exist.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu likewise asserted that Iran’s military capabilities and its nuclear and missile programs had been set back by years.
But newly released satellite imagery paints a more complicated picture, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal, suggesting Tehran has moved swiftly to restore infrastructure damaged during the US-Israeli campaign.
The newspaper says Iran has rapidly begun rebuilding facilities ranging from fortified underground missile bases to bridges, ports, and industrial sites at a pace that has reportedly raised concerns among Israeli and Western officials.
Rapid Reconstruction
According to The Wall Street Journal, satellite images from Planet Labs taken near Kangavar in western Iran showed damage in March to two tunnel entrances and the access road leading to an underground missile facility.
Within weeks, however, newer Airbus satellite imagery revealed a newly paved road leading to freshly excavated tunnel entrances, indicating what the newspaper described as a rapid recovery effort.
In another example, the newspaper cited an Israeli military official as saying Iran repaired within days a bridge that Israel had struck with three bombs, surprising Israeli officials and prompting questions about the effectiveness of some targets.
The report also pointed to satellite images from early July showing partial reconstruction work at a shipyard in the Caspian Sea port of Bandar Anzali, which the newspaper said is linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Former Israeli air and missile defense commander Ran Kochav told The Wall Street Journal that the speed of reconstruction reflects Iran’s long-demonstrated ability to rebuild infrastructure and replenish its missile stockpiles, saying the country has significant manufacturing and reconstruction capabilities.
Satellite Images Show Iran Rebuilt Bombed Missile Bases Within WEEKS
— Ryan Rozbiani (@RyanRozbiani) July 25, 2026
At a missile base near Kangavar in western Iran, Planet Labs imagery from March showed the tunnel entrances and access road destroyed. Weeks later, Airbus images showed a freshly paved road and newly excavated… pic.twitter.com/EpP5RfU2Af
Questioning the Narrative of “Decisive Victory”
The newspaper does not dispute the scale of the damage inflicted on Iran, noting that Tehran still faces a costly and lengthy reconstruction effort.
It argues, however, that the speed of rebuilding undermines claims by Trump and Netanyahu that the campaign dealt a crippling and lasting blow to Iran.
The report also says both leaders continue to face domestic criticism over failing to bring down Iran’s government, eliminate its nuclear program, or permanently secure the Strait of Hormuz.
The White House, by contrast, defended the operation. A spokesperson said the campaign destroyed Iran’s missile arsenal and production capabilities, crippled its navy, weakened its regional allies, and ensured Tehran could not obtain a nuclear weapon, describing the operation as a “resounding victory.”
Yet The Wall Street Journal also highlighted developments that complicate that narrative, saying Iran continued to strike ships with precision despite the bombing campaign and launched missile attacks against US regional partners, including Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan.
Tal Inbar, an analyst at the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, told the newspaper that reports claiming Iran had exhausted or largely lost its missile capabilities proved inaccurate.
Underground Facilities Remain Intact
Israeli military officials quoted by The Wall Street Journal said US and Israeli strikes often succeeded only in collapsing the entrances to deeply buried missile facilities rather than destroying the underground complexes themselves.
According to those officials, weapons stored inside many of those sites remained intact, and Iran subsequently began efforts to recover them.
The newspaper cited a missile base in Dezful, southwestern Iran, which was struck in June 2025 and again in March before later satellite images showed multiple new tunnel entrances being excavated.
It also referred to another missile facility north of Kermanshah, where satellite imagery showed damaged access roads repaired and collapsed tunnel entrances reopened.
At production facilities, Planet Labs imagery reportedly showed reconstruction work in recent weeks at Raja Shimi, a site near Tehran that a report by King’s College London says is believed to be involved in manufacturing missile components.
Nuclear Concerns Persist
Missiles are not the only concern.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Israeli intelligence believes Iran may have transferred thousands of centrifuges into tunnels beneath Pickaxe Mountain, a development the newspaper says has heightened concerns that Tehran could eventually rebuild its nuclear program.
In that sense, Israeli concerns extend beyond rebuilding roads and bridges to preserving technical expertise, production networks, and Iran’s ability to translate time, financial resources, and political will into renewed strategic capabilities.
The Limits of Military Power
Foreign Affairs places the conflict within a broader shift in the global balance of military power.
Political scientist Robert Pape argues that the 1991 Gulf War established the image of the United States as a military power capable of achieving decisive results rapidly and at relatively low cost, but he contends that that era has largely passed.
According to the magazine, the United States no longer enjoys the overwhelming military dominance it possessed after the Cold War because globalization has spread advanced military technologies beyond the exclusive control of major powers.
Low-cost drones, commercially available sensors, artificial intelligence, and widely accessible software now allow weaker states to impose significant costs on stronger adversaries.
In Foreign Affairs’ assessment, the Iran conflict illustrates that shift. While Washington can destroy numerous targets, the magazine argues, it cannot necessarily impose the political outcome it seeks.
Rather than defeating the US Navy in conventional warfare, Iran only needed to convince global markets and shipping companies that the United States could no longer guarantee absolute security for maritime navigation.
According to the magazine, rising insurance costs and declining confidence could leave strategic waterways physically open while making them far less reliable for global commerce.
Beyond the Strait of Hormuz
Foreign Affairs warns that the dynamics seen in the Strait of Hormuz could emerge in even more strategically important waterways, including the Taiwan Strait, the South China Sea, the Strait of Malacca, and the Red Sea.
In a world where precision military technologies have become cheaper and more widely available, the magazine argues, weaker powers can impose substantial costs on stronger rivals—not necessarily by winning conventional wars, but by disrupting trade, increasing commercial risks, and undermining confidence in the security of critical global shipping routes.
Viewed in that context, the satellite imagery reflects not only Iran’s capacity for rapid reconstruction but also the limits of relying on airpower alone, suggesting that the ability to rebuild strategic infrastructure is difficult to eliminate.
Taken together, the analyses by The Wall Street Journal and Foreign Affairs raise a broader strategic question: if destroying physical targets does not permanently neutralize an adversary and if weaker states retain the ability to recover, disrupt, and impose new costs, what remains of the military superiority long claimed by the United States and the Israeli enemy?