Iran has built new defenses around its Pickaxe Mountain and Natanz nuclear sites as it works to rebuild missile and drone programs damaged by earlier US and Israeli strikes, according to satellite imagery and reporting cited by The Jerusalem Post. 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.”
The Wall Street Journal report said Iran could be preparing for renewed conflict and seeking to deter potential American attacks after the midterm elections. Tehran has reinforced defenses, rallied loyalists and threatened a wider, harsher response against the United States and its Gulf allies, the report said. It’s preparing for more.
Defenses around nuclear sites
Last month, Iran built makeshift dirt mounds around the Pickaxe Mountain and Natanz nuclear sites, according to Vantor satellite images analyzed by the Institute for Science and International Security, a Washington, DC, nonprofit. The report described the earthworks as passive defenses intended to impede a possible ground raid.
Iran is also preparing to defend against different kinds of airstrikes, the report said. Tehran likely learned lessons from the 12 Day War in June 2025 and from strikes that began in February 2026 and continued until May.
In March, Israel's prime minister said Iran could no longer produce ballistic missiles because of US and Israeli strikes. An earlier assessment was optimistic about the number of Iranian launchers destroyed and missiles “corked” in depots after routes to the missiles were collapsed. In April, The New York Times reported that Iran was repairing its missile bunkers. The Jerusalem Post reported that the regime had demonstrated it could rebuild capabilities. It hasn’t stopped.
Threats to regional targets
Iranian officials had hinted that their forces could conduct land incursions into neighboring countries, according to people familiar with the warnings cited by The Wall Street Journal. The withdrawal of US forces from Iraq on September 30 could give Iran opportunities to infiltrate through Iraq or use Iranian-backed militias there to carry out further attacks, the report said.
Those militias had already attacked a key pipeline in Saudi Arabia. US Central Command (CENTCOM) and Saudi Arabia carried out retaliatory strikes in July, while 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, The Wall Street Journal reported. Saudi Arabia was considering how to address Houthi attacks on Saudi airports in recent days that killed and wounded people. They’re weighing their response.
Shipping and military pressure
Iran continued to threaten shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. The United States was working to ensure ships could pass and limit the crisis’s effect on energy prices, but those efforts hadn’t resolved the open-ended conflict with Iran.
Iran had also attacked US bases in the region, damaging facilities and aircraft and prompting the United States to reposition assets, the report said. Separately, 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,” while negotiations to end the war and fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz made little headway. There’s little progress.