Satellite images show Iran rapidly rebuilding sites hit by US and Israeli strikes

WSJ report shows extensive reconstruction at multiple locations; officials lament Tehran’s ability to quickly recover and retain ability to attack, question efficacy of strikes

Iran has managed to rebuild a significant amount of infrastructure destroyed during its war with the US and Israel in recent months, ranging from bridges to missile bases, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

The report, based on a review of satellite imagery, suggested that the speed at which Tehran is restoring its damaged capabilities is the reason why it is continuing to hold its own against the US after hostilities renewed earlier this month over disputes relating to the Strait of Hormuz.

One set of satellite images showed that an access road leading to an Iranian missile base had been damaged by strikes in early March, the Journal reported. Several weeks later, a newly paved road could be seen leading to the base’s entrance in Kangavar, western Iran, despite it having also been blocked by the strikes.

Other images obtained by the WSJ showed that as of early July, reconstruction efforts were underway at the Bandar Anzali port linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Israel said in March that it had caused significant damage to the port, an IRGC command center located there, and an adjoining shipyard.

In a third instance, the newspaper said reconstruction efforts were documented at a missile production plant near Tehran in recent weeks.

According to the outlet, Israeli military officials have pointed to these instances as proof that the bombing campaign unleashed on February 28 was ineffective.

One official cited by the outlet suggested that Israel should have focused exclusively on military infrastructure rather than broadening its scope to target regime bodies, believing that doing so would have enabled it to inflict more damage.

A second official said Iran was capable of rebuilding almost everything that had been hit, the WSJ added.

Satellite images from Planet Labs cited by the newspaper showed that a missile base in Dezful was struck both in June 2025 and again in March 2026, with strikes burying the entrance to the site. Yet just a few months later, the Iranians were already digging out tunnels to regain access, according to images from Airbus.

The images call into question the efficacy of the extensive Israeli and US strikes on Iranian targets in both June 2025 and the current round of conflict. Following the US attacks on Iran last year, US President Donald Trump boasted that forces had “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s key nuclear sites.

Speaking after a ceasefire in the war was first reached in early April, Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the US struck more than 1,500 air defense targets, more than 450 ballistic missile storage facilities and 800 one-way attack drone storage facilities in the first five weeks of fighting, adding: “All of these systems are gone.”

He also said at the time that the military “destroyed Iran’s defense industrial base” while pointing to the fact that the US and allies attacked “approximately 90% of their weapons factories.”

Caine added that “nearly 80% of Iran’s nuclear industrial base was hit, further degrading their attempts to attain a nuclear weapon.”

The IDF, meanwhile, said it dropped more than 18,000 bombs in Iran amid the war, in over 1,000 waves of strikes on more than 4,000 targets, including air defense systems, ballistic missile launchers, weapon production sites, nuclear facilities, various headquarters and military commanders and leaders.

According to the Israeli military, forces destroyed or disabled around 60% of Iran’s estimated 470 ballistic missile launchers. Around 200 of the launchers were destroyed in strikes, while another 80 were not considered to be operational after the IAF struck tunnel entrances to subterranean facilities where they are stored, according to the IDF.

Yet while Iran has not been striking Israel since fighting between Tehran and Washington renewed this month, it has regularly and consistently struck US assets in Gulf nations, showing no signs of slowing down as it hits targets in Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and elsewhere, while continuing to strike ships attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz.