According to a report released last month by the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI), new satellite imagery reveals renewed tunneling and underground construction at three major Iranian military sites.By Ailin Vilches Arguello, The AlgemeinerIran is racing to restore its battered missile program after devastating US and Israeli strikes earlier this year, seeking to rebuild an arsenal that, according to experts, remains a major threat to Israel and the broader Middle East even as the Trump administration signals that further military action against Tehran is increasingly unlikely.Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) unveiled what it called a new “missile city” on Tuesday, broadcasting footage of an underground facility packed with ballistic and cruise missiles and their launchers, though the site’s existence and whether it is genuinely new could not be independently verified.“Our advanced missiles will surprise our enemies with their battlefield impact,” Iranian Maj. Gen. Ali Abdollahi, chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces, reportedly said while touring the new facilities.“If the enemy launches another attack against us, our response will extend beyond the region.”Designed to keep Iran’s arsenal beyond the reach of enemy airstrikes, the regime’s sprawling network of underground “missile cities” serves as both protected storage and launch infrastructure, allowing Tehran to sustain operations even during a war.The regime’s latest unveiling appears calculated to signal that American and Israeli strikes have not eliminated its ability to wage a missile campaign, particularly as Iran has moved much of its missile and drone production from exposed aboveground sites into fortified underground complexes.According to an Israeli security assessment reported by Hebrew media earlier this month, Iran currently possesses more than 1,700 ballistic missiles capable of reaching Israel, approximately 800 fewer than the estimated 2,500 it held before the US and Israeli strikes earlier this year.However, experts warn that Iran is already showing signs of restarting missile assembly lines and resuming production, raising concerns that Tehran is working to restore its depleted arsenal, even if output remains well below prewar levels.A new report released Thursday by the Alma Research and Education Center, which focuses on Israel’s security challenges along its northern border, notes that the Iranian program remains a top strategic threat.Despite the extensive damage inflicted on Iran’s missile stockpiles, production infrastructure, and launcher systems, the report explains that Tehran still possesses a substantial ballistic missile arsenal and retains the ability to rebuild it, leaving the threat to Israel far from eliminated.Experts argue that the key strategic concern is not only how many missiles Iran has left today but also how quickly Tehran can restore its production infrastructure, rebuild its arsenal, and regain the capabilities needed to threaten Israel and other regional adversaries.Alma’s new report points to a significant disparity between Iran’s largely preserved final assembly capabilities and the earlier stages of its production chain, particularly the manufacturing of raw materials, engine components, and warheads, which remain at low levels.In recent weeks, US President Donald Trump had suggested that Iran might become more willing to negotiate an agreement after the US midterm elections, but his administration signaled this week that it believes its maritime blockade and economic sanctions are already working, meaning neither a military escalation nor diplomacy is needed.“We don’t need a deal with Iran. Those days have long since passed. We’ve got their money, Hundreds of Billions of Dollars, and we’ve got their Strait!” Trump wrote in a post on TruthSocial, referring to the Strait of Hormuz.He had also said on Monday that the war with Iran was “effectively over” militarily, suggesting that Washington was unlikely to launch another round of strikes against Tehran and potentially bringing an end to more than eight months of conflict.“We’re just keeping the status quo,” Trump wrote in a separate post on TruthSocial. “At this point, taking military action doesn’t seem to be a very necessary thing—but we’re locked and loaded, ready to go for any reason.”Iran’s expanding ballistic missile program was among the Trump administration’s central justifications for launching the war, with Washington arguing that Tehran’s growing arsenal posed an increasingly dangerous threat that needed to be dismantled.Yet, the administration now appears prepared to leave the conflict without pursuing further military action or a renewed diplomatic agreement, even as Iran works to restore the very capabilities that helped justify the campaign.According to a report released last month by the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI), new satellite imagery reveals renewed tunneling and underground construction at three major Iranian sites—Parchin, Khojir, and Shahroud—suggesting that Tehran may be shifting some production and assembly operations beneath the surface to protect them from future attacks.Even though the exact timeline remains uncertain, the report estimates that Iran could resume production within roughly a year if it concentrates restoration efforts at a single site and secures the necessary industrial equipment.Analysts still warn that rebuilding the main factories may not be enough, as damage to other facilities that manufacture missile components could create bottlenecks and further delay the restoration of Iran’s missile production capabilities.The reported findings cast partial doubt on earlier assessments that Tehran’s military infrastructure had been largely devastated during the war, suggesting that the regime’s defense industry was seriously damaged but not eliminated or unable to resume in some capacity.Israeli officials have previously warned that Iran had restarted limited production of ballistic missiles, launch platforms, and anti-aircraft systems, relying on surviving components and production lines that escaped destruction or had already been restored.Previous Israeli intelligence assessments also indicated that the regime had recovered missiles and launchers from underground tunnel systems damaged or rendered inaccessible during the conflict.There is still no consensus on how long Iran’s reconstruction will take. Current estimates range from several months to several years, depending on the weapons system and the scale of foreign assistance Tehran is able to secure.However, Israeli officials have warned that Iran’s reconstruction efforts are advancing faster than initial intelligence estimates had projected, as Tehran takes advantage of both the long pause in major strikes and ongoing diplomatic talks with the US to rebuild critical military capabilities.The post Iran races to rebuild missile arsenal as Trump signals US unlikely to resume strikes appeared first on World Israel News.