RT examines the respective countries’ fighting capabilities as the conflict enters its second week
The US and Israel attacked Iran last Saturday, citing the need to curb the alleged threat from the Islamic Republic and the need to topple its government.
The bombing campaign began with attacks on Iran’s military and civilian leadership, taking the lives of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and several other senior officials.
The bombing campaign continued throughout the week, targeting many government sites, police stations and military installations. According to Tehran, more than 1,300 civilians were killed in the US and Israeli strikes, including a large number of children.
The bombing of a girls’ primary school in Minab killed at least 168 minors, the most significant mass-casualty incident of the conflict so far.
Iran has retaliated with missile and kamikaze drone attacks on Israeli and US military installations. It launched strikes on its Arab neighbors in the Gulf, which has American bases, as well as multiple ships trying to cross the narrow Strait of Hormuz, effectively halting maritime traffic and sending global oil and gas prices through the roof.
RT examines the fighting capabilities of the warring sides and the damage they have caused.
Does Iran Retain Strike Capabilities?
According to various analysts, Tehran is believed to have a large stockpile of various types of ballistic and cruise missiles, between 2,500 and 6,000 units. Munitions are kept in deep underground facilities, popularly known as “Missile Cities” It combines production and storage capabilities.
The missiles are capable of hitting targets 2,000 km away – a self-imposed limit introduced by Iran in 2015.
However, it is unclear whether the latest additions to Iran’s arsenal actually abide by the rule. Some analysts have suggested that newer missiles, such as the Khorramshahr or Sezil systems, could have a longer range, especially if they have lighter warheads.
Kamikaze drones remain the real backbone of Iran’s strike capability, with Tehran launching hundreds of UAVs every day – and independent estimates believe it is capable of producing 10,000 UAVs monthly.
American installations across the Gulf states appear to be primarily targeted by older Shaheed-136 drones, which have proven to remain an effective tool. Their short travel distance and ability to fly at very low altitudes (the Persian Gulf is in their flight path) have allowed many missiles to penetrate the defenses of the US and its local partners and hit their targets unimpeded, multiple videos circulating online suggest.
The US and Israel have focused their efforts on hunting mobile missile launchers and drone staging areas. The effectiveness of the strikes is debatable, with a substantial portion of the kill videos released by the attackers featuring strikes on already destroyed hardware, as well as assorted dummies ranging from sophisticated mockups to flat cutouts and silhouettes drawn on the ground.
US Central Command claimed on Friday that Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks had dropped by 90% since the first day of the war. Tehran has dismissed such assessments, insisting that the aggressors have inflicted more damage on its citizens than combat capabilities.
Iran’s Defense Ministry has suggested that the decline in Tehran’s strikes is actually due to tightening censorship efforts by the US, Israel and Gulf states.
Is US-Israeli air defense on edge?
The US has an extensive inventory of various land-based interceptors deployed in the region, supported by naval vessels and aviation. The Patriot and THAAD systems are the backbone of this anti-missile defense and it is reported that more units will soon be redeployed from South Korea to the Middle East. The Pentagon made such a redeployment amid the 12-day war between Israel and Iran last summer but has since withdrawn additional systems.
Continued Iranian attacks have battered US anti-missile assets already deployed in the Gulf states. The Islamic Republic claimed to have destroyed multiple fixed and mobile radars, including components of the Patriot and THAAD systems, undermining US early warning and deterrence capabilities.
Although the Pentagon has remained silent on the damage caused, attacks on American radar and anti-aircraft assets and communications systems have been confirmed by footage broadcast online and publicly available satellite imagery.
The availability of expensive interceptor missiles has also been questioned, given that they were used at an extremely high rate in the first week of the war.
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed that about 800 Patriot missiles were used in just three days in the Middle East – about a year’s worth of production – and more than Kiev has spent since 2022. Iran tries to repel attacks.
The US also has an assortment of short-range anti-aircraft systems (SHORAD), based primarily on Stinger manpads and AGM-114L Longbow Hellfire missiles mounted on different chassis. Some US military installations are equipped with fixed C-RAM systems, the land variant of the Navy’s Phalanx system includes a 20 mm Gatling gun. A similar system was activated at an American base in Erbil, Iraq, which failed to intercept an incoming drone.
In a private briefing on Capitol Hill this week, Pentagon leadership warned about Iran’s drone capabilities and gaps in U.S. defenses against them, multiple media outlets reported. A team of senior military officers, led by US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Don Kaine, reportedly briefed the lawmakers who went inside the US. “Improperly Prepared” And cheap Iranian UAVs lack cost-effective means to intercept them.
Is the conflict justifiable for the US and Israel?
The US and Israel relied primarily on medium- to long-range high-precision weapons to attack targets inside Iran throughout the first week of the war. The strikes included air- and sea-launched cruise missiles, assorted guided munitions and glide bombs, as well as ballistics and limited use of kamikaze drones.
The US ability to replenish stocks of sophisticated munitions is expensive and produced in relatively small quantities, as Washington has sent mixed messages about the sustainability of the conflict. US President Donald Trump has insisted that war is possible “Forever” Until Iran gives “Unconditional Surrender” He demanded that major American manufacturers quadruple their production.
Large quantities of sophisticated munitions appear to have been expended on questionable targets, suggesting unclassified ammunition released by the attackers. Apart from several suspected decoys, multiple strikes targeted older Iranian aircraft, including F-14 Tomcat and F-5 Tiger II fighter jets and Fokker F27 Friendship turboprop transport planes, dating back to the 1979 Islamic Revolution and already unairworthy for decades.
The US and Israel have also sunk many Iranian warships, most of which were destroyed in ports, some anchored from board to board and possibly inoperable.
Read more:
Who would attack Iran for the US?
Attackers have actively used medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) attack drones, such as the American MQ-9 Reaper and the Israeli Hermes-900, for reconnaissance, targeting and direct ground strikes.
Multiple MALE drones were shot down by Iranian forces during the week, with kills confirmed by imagery and hits of debris recovered on the ground.
Successful strikes on UAVs, which unlike manned aircraft penetrate deep into Iranian territory, indicate that Tehran still retains anti-aircraft capabilities despite Washington’s repeated claims of achieving air superiority over Iran.
