As the United States and Israel carry out strikes and Iran hits back at U.S. military bases in neighboring countries, attention is focused on how long Iran's retaliatory attacks could continue.
On the 1st (local time), according to local outlets including the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the United States and its allies do not have complete information on Iran's missile stockpiles and production capacity.
However, before the 12-day war with Israel in June last year, Iran possessed about 3,000 medium-range ballistic missiles, and it is estimated to have expended 500 of them.
Some of the remaining ballistic missiles were likely damaged as Israel struck Iran's missile production facilities. At the time, Israeli authorities claimed they destroyed about 70% of Iran's missile launchers and weakened its missile production capacity.
Iran has partially restored production sites and has focused on increasing its total missile stockpile since June last year. U.S. administration officials believed that before June last year Iran had the capacity to produce fewer than 50 missiles a month.
Accordingly, WSJ assessed that Iran now appears able to field more than 2,000 medium-range ballistic missiles.
According to data from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Iran has the largest missile stockpile among Middle Eastern countries, and most ranges are set at around 2,000 km, enough to reach Israel.
Reuters, citing a domestic missile inventory graph reported by Iran's semi-official news agency in April last year, said Iran has the capability to strike Israel with a total of nine types of missiles, including the Sejjil with a range of 2,500 km, the Kheibar with a range of 2,000 km, and the Haj Qassem with a range of 1,400 km.
Most of Iran's missile launch sites are concentrated in the capital, Tehran, and surrounding areas. There are believed to be at least five underground "missile cities" in the Gulf region and in Kermanshah in western Iran and Semnan in the north.
In addition, in June 2023, through a report by state-run IRNA, Iran unveiled what it said was an indigenously built hypersonic ballistic missile. A fully functional hypersonic missile flies at least five times the speed of sound and follows complex trajectories, making it harder to intercept than conventional ballistic missiles.
However, with U.S. President Donald Trump saying that Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei died on this day, there are mixed outlooks on whether Iran will continue its counterstrikes. Some say that with the power center gone, Iran's senior officials and military leadership, mired in confusion, may be unable to issue proper orders.
On the other hand, because Khamenei appears to have recently prepared for his death by setting a line of succession, Iran could maintain the existing system and keep pounding Israel and others based on that.