Iran clears bombed tunnels, restores missile operations paused by US-Israeli strikes - report

Iran has rapidly restored its missile capabilities by clearing bombed tunnels and tunnel entrances, according to a CNN report citing experts and US officials.

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They were preparing for this kind of war for 20 years. 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.

Simple equipment such as bulldozers and dump trucks were used to clear roads and tunnel entrances destroyed by US and Israeli bombings. This low-tech recovery method allows Iran to quickly resume operations, making its missile infrastructure challenging to permanently disable. Experts note that Iran has been preparing for such scenarios for two decades.

Timur Kadyshev, a senior researcher at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg, told CNN that while sophisticated and expensive weapons are needed to damage Iran's underground facilities, the recovery process is "very low tech - it's just bulldozers."

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They were preparing for this kind of war for 20 years.

Experts estimate Iran still possesses around 1,000 missiles stored underground, and these stockpiles were likely unaffected by strikes targeting ground-level facilities. An anonymous US official indicated that Iran has "exceeded all timelines" for its post-strike reconstitution.

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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.

The New York Times previously reported that the US believes Iran has regained access to a majority of its missile sites. Even non-operational sites can be utilized with mobile launchers, of which Iran reportedly maintains roughly 70% of its inventory. US military agencies claim that approximately 90% of Iran's underground missile facilities are now at least partially operational.

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They were preparing for this kind of war for 20 years.