Satellite images show Iran reinforcing sensitive sites, including Natanz and Pickaxe Mountain, while the country works to rebuild missile and drone programs damaged by earlier US and Israeli strikes. Makeshift dirt mounds could impede a possible ground raid. The Wall Street Journal reported that Iran is preparing for renewed conflict and trying to deter potential American attacks after the midterm elections.
War Preparations on Display
The Institute for Science and International Security, a Washington, DC, nonprofit, analyzed Vantor satellite images showing measures around nuclear sites that Iran built last month. The Wall Street Journal report also described paramilitary forces reading war stories to kindergartners, advertisements for training in firing shoulder-mounted anti-aircraft missiles, and rallies presented as preparations for renewed conflict.
Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of the Iran program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said: "In both word and deed, the Islamic Republic is actively preparing for the next war." His assessment, quoted in the report, describes a government building defenses and mobilizing loyalists as it anticipates further attacks.
Iran is preparing for different kinds of airstrikes, the report said, and has likely drawn lessons from the 12 Day War in June 2025 and strikes that began in February 2026 and continued until May. Preparations include defenses at nuclear sites and public-facing efforts to rally support. The report's examples show the state apparatus treating strategic facilities and the population as parts of its war planning.
Rival Governments, Escalating Threats
The Jerusalem Post reported that Maariv said over the weekend the United States had pressured Israel to strike Iran. Israel and the United States both have upcoming elections, and any strikes could affect them. The report offers no certainty about what either government will do; it describes elections unfolding alongside military threats and preparations.
PBS reported Sunday that Iran continued to reject a deal with the United States. The head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council called Washington's latest response "insufficient." Negotiations intended to end the war and fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz were making little headway. Meanwhile, Iran continued to threaten shipping through the strait, while the United States worked to ensure ships could pass and limit the crisis's effect on energy prices. Those efforts haven't resolved the open-ended conflict.
In March, Israel's prime minister said Iran could no longer produce ballistic missiles because of US and Israeli strikes. Earlier assessments had been optimistic about how many Iranian launchers had been destroyed and how many missiles were "corked" in depots after routes to the missiles were collapsed. In April, The New York Times reported Iran was repairing missile bunkers. The Jerusalem Post said the regime had shown it could rebuild capabilities. The sequence undercuts claims that strikes had permanently disabled Iran's weapons programs.
Threats Reach Beyond the Front
The Wall Street Journal reported that Iranian officials had hinted their forces could conduct land incursions into neighboring countries, according to people familiar with the warnings. The withdrawal of US forces from Iraq on September 30 could give Iran opportunities to infiltrate through Iraq or use Iranian-backed militias there for further attacks. Those militias had already attacked a key pipeline in Saudi Arabia.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) and Saudi Arabia carried out retaliatory strikes in July. Riyadh was reluctant to confront militias in Iraq and the Houthis at the same time. Tehran separately warned Arab officials it could strike regional targets, including Saudi oil facilities, if conflict resumed.
Saudi Arabia was already considering how to address Houthi attacks on Saudi airports in recent days that killed and wounded people. Iran had attacked US bases in the region, damaging facilities and aircraft and prompting the United States to reposition assets. Across the region, governments answer threats with military deployments, retaliatory strikes and further threats. The people facing the consequences don't set those terms.