Iran wants to mass-produce missiles, Israel says it may strike again

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00:00When the so-called 12-day war between Israel and Iran ended in June,

00:05neither side really saw it as an end to the fighting, more like a pause.

00:10Now, Iran says its goal is to build enough missiles to launch 2,000 all at once.

00:18The last time Israel and Iran came to blows, the Israeli Air Force took out two uranium enrichment

00:25centers, about half of Iran's arsenal of 3,000 missiles, and close to 80% of its launchers.

00:32After the fighting stopped on June 24th, both Israel and Iran essentially started rearming

00:38and planning for the next engagement.

00:40In October, the New York Times reported Iran was shifting toward mass strike readiness

00:46and putting its missile factories into 24-hour operation.

00:50Iran will definitely need some help to make that happen from either Russia, China, or North Korea.

00:57But ultimately, Tehran's goal is to build enough strike capability to overwhelm Israeli air defenses.

01:05During the 12-day war, Iran launched 500 missiles and more than 1,000 drones at Israel.

01:10With the help of the U.S., most were destroyed, but a few dozen got through.

01:1631 Israelis were killed, another 3,000 injured.

01:19There was also extensive damage to homes and buildings, including on two university campuses

01:25and a hospital.

01:27So, while Israel definitely came out ahead in June, experts say it would be unwise to discount

01:34Iran's current threats.

01:36I would take it very seriously.

01:38I mean, it doesn't necessarily mean that currently the Iranian is at capacity.

01:42I don't think that at this moment they have this capacity for now, but we definitely should

01:48be taking it very seriously.

01:52That's Avi Malamed, a former intelligence officer in the IDF and founder of Inside the

01:57Middle East.

01:58I caught up with him while he was literally on the road during a speaking tour.

02:02He says Iran, and specifically its leadership, the Mullah regime, is in a vulnerable position.

02:10For decades, the regime relied on its proxy forces around the Middle East, called the Axis

02:15of Resistance, to project power and act somewhat as a deterrent.

02:20But after a couple of years fighting with the IDF, those proxy forces are mostly dead, or severely

02:27degraded.

02:28Iran's only real play now?

02:31Building up the only other means of power projection it has, its missile program.

02:36But here's the rub.

02:37While most of the missiles and launchers Iran has are made and stored in underground facilities,

02:44the country doesn't have the ability to launch those missiles from underground.

02:49They have to be taken above ground, where they need to be prepped for launch.

02:53That takes time, making them vulnerable to attack.

02:56In June, when Israel was carrying out attacks from within Iranian airspace with impunity,

03:03it was because the Israeli Air Force had already decimated Iran's air defenses in previous

03:09attacks.

03:10Which is why Avi Malamed says Iran may want to build more missiles that can hit Israel, but

03:16without the ability to protect them before launch, missiles are meaningless.

03:20To the best of our knowledge and understanding, the Iranians are putting priority in rebuilding

03:26their aerial defense capacities.

03:29And here they have some challenge because, again, they are dependent upon importing those

03:34systems.

03:35Major potential suppliers of such advanced systems are either China or Russia or North Korea.

03:41China is reluctant to provide Iran with those capacities because of the UN sanctions.

03:49Russia is also not rushing to provide the Iranians with its most advanced anti-area capacities.

03:58And so in that regard, the Iranians are facing some significant challenge because they do realize

04:04that in any case, they must they must restore first those capacities.

04:11When the fighting stopped in June, Israel said it was willing to strike again if Iran tried to

04:16restart its nuclear enrichment program.

04:18That program suffered some major setbacks when the US used B-2 stealth bombers to hit a couple of

04:25underground facilities.

04:26But Iran says it is still committed to developing a domestic nuclear program, regardless of what

04:33the US or Israel says.

04:36So, while it's not necessarily a foregone conclusion that Israel and Iran will start another war,

04:42it's extremely possible, maybe even likely.

04:46For more reporting like this, download the Straight Arrow News app today.

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