Iranian paramilitary forces are reading war stories to kindergartners. Advertisements offer training in firing shoulder-mounted anti-aircraft missiles. Rallies are preparing ordinary people for renewed conflict. These details come from a Wall Street Journal report cited by The Jerusalem Post. They describe a society bracing for another war, with civilians set to absorb the first blow.
Satellite imagery shows Iran fortifying sensitive locations, including nuclear sites and border areas, as it works to rebuild its missile and drone programs after earlier US and Israeli strikes damaged them. The Wall Street Journal report said Tehran could be preparing for renewed war and seeking to deter potential American attacks after the midterm elections. Iran is reinforcing defenses, rallying loyalists and threatening a wider, harsher response against the United States and its Gulf allies.
A Region Braced for the Next Round
Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of the Iran program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, put it bluntly. "In both word and deed, the Islamic Republic is actively preparing for the next war," he said.
The physical preparations are concrete. Vantor satellite images analyzed by the Institute for Science and International Security, a Washington, DC, nonprofit, show Iran built makeshift dirt mounds around its Pickaxe Mountain and Natanz nuclear sites last month. The aim is to impede a possible ground raid. The report said Iran is also preparing to defend against different kinds of airstrikes and has likely learned lessons from the 12 Day War in June 2025 and the round of strikes that began in February 2026 and continued until May.
Those earlier rounds were supposed to settle the question of Iran's missile capacity. In March, Israel's prime minister said Iran could no longer produce ballistic missiles because of US and Israeli strikes. There had also been an optimistic assessment of how many Iranian launchers had been destroyed and how many missiles were "corked" in depots by routes to the missiles being collapsed. By April, The New York Times reported that Iran was repairing its missile bunkers. The Jerusalem Post said the regime had shown it could rebuild capabilities.
Threats Beyond Iran's Borders
The warnings reach well past Iran's own territory. According to people familiar with the warnings, Iranian officials hinted their forces could conduct land incursions into neighboring countries, the Wall Street Journal report said. The withdrawal of US forces from Iraq on September 30, 14 days ago, could open a path for Iran to infiltrate through Iraq or use Iranian-backed militias there for further attacks.
Those militias have already struck. They attacked a key pipeline in Saudi Arabia. US Central Command (CENTCOM) and Saudi Arabia carried out retaliatory strikes in July, but Riyadh was reluctant to confront militias in Iraq and the Houthis at the same time. Houthi attacks have targeted Saudi airports in recent days, killing and wounding people. Tehran separately warned Arab officials it could strike regional targets, including Saudi oil facilities, if conflict resumed, the report said.
Shipping is under pressure too. Iran continues to threaten traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, while the United States works to ensure ships can pass and limit the crisis's effect on energy prices. Those efforts haven't resolved the open-ended conflict, the report said. Iran has also attacked US bases in the region, damaging facilities and aircraft and prompting the United States to reposition assets.
Diplomacy Stalls
The diplomatic track offers little relief. 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," and negotiations to end the war and fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz were making little headway.
Politics in two capitals complicates matters further. The Jerusalem Post reported that Maariv said over the weekend that the United States had pressured Israel to strike Iran. Israel and the United States both have upcoming elections, and any strikes could affect them.
Why This Matters: Every item in this report points toward a conflict that civilians in Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and across the Gulf would pay for first. Airports have already been hit, a pipeline has been attacked, and shipping lanes carrying the region's economic lifeblood remain under threat. The record also shows how quickly confident assessments of destroyed capability gave way to evidence of rebuilding, a reason for caution about military options that promise a lasting fix. With negotiations stalled and election calendars in both Washington and Israel shaping the debate, the space for a diplomatic exit is narrowing. The cost of that narrowing is measured less in strategy than in the lives of people who have no say in either capital's calculations.