Iran is rapidly rebuilding capabilities damaged during its war with the United States and Israel, clearing dozens of entrances to missile sites that were bombed during the fighting, CNN reported, citing an analysis of satellite images from Airbus Defence and Space.
According to the report, since the ceasefire between Iran and the United States began, Iran has cleared at least 50 access points at 18 missile sites.
Debris removal at the entrance to the missile production base in Tabriz
(Video: AIRBUS DS 2026)
CNN’s analysis found that Iran has effectively restored access to large numbers of missiles stored in underground facilities whose entrances had been struck. The report cited U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim that Iran’s missile arsenal had been almost entirely destroyed, but noted that many Israeli and American strikes during the war trapped launchers and missiles underground by targeting access points rather than destroying the weapons themselves.
Now, according to CNN, Iran is overcoming much of the damage and regaining access to large numbers of missiles and launchers using only bulldozers and debris-clearing trucks. The Pentagon maintains that the military operations during the war achieved their required objectives.
Airbus satellite images from April 10 showed efforts to remove debris from the blocked entrance to a tunnel at a missile base south of Tabriz. Additional satellite imagery showed debris being cleared at a missile base in Khomein, where a truck was seen removing rubble from a tunnel entrance while waste-removal trucks waited nearby.
The New York Times reported last week that during the ceasefire, Iran used the time to dig through dozens of bombed ballistic missile sites, move mobile launchers and, according to a U.S. military official, adjust its tactics for the possibility of renewed strikes.
“Many of Iran’s ballistic missiles were stored in deep underground caves and other facilities carved into granite mountains that are difficult for American strike aircraft to destroy,” the official told the Times. As a result, the United States often bombed the areas around the sites, collapsing and burying them but not destroying them. “Iran has dug out a significant number of sites,” the official said.
Additional satellite images published three weeks ago also revealed suspicious movement near a secret Iranian site at Mount Pickaxe. Images from Airbus, analyzed by the Institute for Science and International Security, showed that as early as April 22, the two eastern tunnel entrances to the underground complex had been blocked with special soil intended to prevent vehicles from reaching them.