An Israeli military spokesperson said on Thursday Iran could build up an arsenal of up to 8000 ballistic missiles by 2027 if it continued rebuilding its missile program following the June 2025 war.
Speaking in an online press conference for Persian-language media outlets abroad, the spokesperson said Israel observed that Tehran had resumed rebuilding its missile production systems after the June 2025 conflict and continued pursuing its nuclear program.
According to the spokesperson, Iran had around 3000 missiles before the June 2025 war, many of which were used or destroyed during that conflict.
“By Saturday, when Operation Lion's Roar began, it had managed to rebuild 2500 missiles through renewed and mass production.”
“If this trend had continued, the regime could have reached 8000 ballistic missiles by 2027.”
Israel and the United States launched coordinated strikes across Iran on February 28 under what Israel calls Operation Lion’s Roar, targeting military and strategic sites.
The airstrikes killed nearly 40 high-ranking Iranian officials including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in the first 24 hours, and continue to destroy Iran's military capabilities, according to the Israeli military.
Two-thirds of Iran launchers destroyed
The spokesperson said Israeli forces had struck hundreds of targets inside Iran since the start of the current war.
“So far we have attacked 700 regime targets,” he said. “300 launchers out of Iran’s total 450 missile launch platforms have been disabled or destroyed.”
He said the Israeli Air Force had flown more than 7000 operational hours during the campaign and that Israeli forces had also carried out strikes in Lebanon.
“At the same time as the operation in Iran, we destroyed more than 320 Hezbollah terrorist infrastructures in Lebanon.”
According to the spokesperson, Israel has mobilized 110000 reservists and will continue its operations until threats against the country are eliminated.
Why Iran war was necessary
The spokesperson said Israel launched its current military campaign to counter what he described as long-term threats posed by the Islamic Republic, which had sought Israel’s destruction for decades.
“The overall and fundamental objective of Israel’s operation is to strike the terrorist targets of the Islamic Republic regime and especially to remove serious and operational threats that have been carried out against Israel over the long term,” the spokesperson said.
“The Islamic Republic has for 47 years dreamed of the destruction of Israel and has repeatedly stated in its own media at various times that the destruction of Israel is at the top of its political, security and ideological objectives. For this reason it was necessary to begin this operation.”
“In just the past year they transferred about $900 million or even up to $1 billion to their proxy groups in the region such as Hezbollah and the Houthis.”
Civilian casualties
Asked about reports of an airstrike on an elementary and preschool complex in Minab, southern Iran where over 160 people were killed, the spokesman denied any Israeli involvement, saying "the Israeli army had no operation in the Minab area and it was not within its operational zone."
“I'm not accusing anyone, but in many cases such as the Ukrainian airplane shootdown in 2020 we have seen that the regime itself made a mistake but accused others.”
The spokesperson added: “I express my sympathy and condolences to the people of that region. It is painful when one sees those scenes. No war can be pleasant or without casualties.”
The spokesman said Israel uses precision-guided munitions and issues evacuation warnings before strikes. “Israel only targets strategic objectives and uses the most precise precision-guided munitions so that only the intended area is struck."
“We are the only army in the world that issues evacuation warnings before attacks to prevent civilian casualties. In contrast, Iran cuts the internet so people cannot access those warnings.”
He also referred to the Israeli casualties in Iran's missile strikes, saying, “In Iranian missile attacks on residential and civilian areas so far, 12 Israeli civilians have been killed and more than 370 have been wounded."
The situation triggered a wave of posts across social media platforms, particularly on X, many of them sarcastic, angry or openly celebratory.
One widely shared comment drew a comparison with the authorities’ treatment of families whose relatives were killed during protests.
More than 36,500 Iranians were killed by security forces during the January 8-9 crackdown on nationwide protests, making it the deadliest two-day protest massacre in history, according to documents reviewed by Iran International.
“In the past two months a man named Ali Khamenei did not allow families of people killed on his orders to hold funerals,” one user wrote. “Now for five days the body of that same man has been kept in a refrigerator and they cannot even issue permission for his burial. What goes around comes around.”
Another post mocked the uncertainty surrounding funeral arrangements. “The funeral procession for Khamenei will be held online through the Shad platform,” a user wrote, referring sarcastically to the government-linked education app used by Iranian schools when classes move online during crises.
Some comments echoed remarks previously made by a state television host who had mocked the deaths of protesters.
Public anger erupted last month after a presenter on Ofogh TV, a channel run by the state broadcaster IRIB and affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, referred to reports that thousands killed during the January crackdown were transported in refrigerated trailers. The program made a multiple choice question about where to keep the bodies of protesters. The show aired a segment posing a multiple-choice question about where the bodies of protesters should be kept.
“Which refrigerator do you think they are keeping Khamenei’s body in?” one user wrote, listing options such as “Netanyahu’s refrigerator,” “an ice-cream factory freezer,” and “the freezers of Antarctica.”
Others used darker language. “The stench of Khamenei’s corpse has spread across the Middle East and they still do not dare bury it,” one user wrote.
Another post said: “Six days have passed and the rotten body of Ali Khamenei is still lying on the ground.”
Some users circulated images of a dead rat with captions claiming sarcastically that the first photo of Khamenei’s body had finally been released.
Revenge in digital form
Many posts framed the mockery as a form of symbolic revenge.
“Khamenei left a deep wound in people’s hearts and denied grieving families the right to mourn,” one user wrote. “His agents buried bodies secretly. Now after days his own body is still on the ground.”
Others referenced reports that some families had been asked to pay for the bullets used to kill their relatives in order to receive their bodies.
“I heard Khamenei’s body has started to rot with worms,” one user wrote. “If you don’t have money for bunker-buster bombs, at least bury him.”
Another post revived a Persian saying about burial rites. “They used to say a corpse never stays on the ground,” the user wrote. “Even if someone has no one, eventually the municipality will bury them. But six days have passed and the body of Ali Khamenei is still lying there.”
“Israel said to return the body of Ali Khamenei, the Islamic Republic must pay for the missiles it fired, or his family must admit he was part of a Mossad spy team,” one post read, referring sarcastically to reports that families were sometimes asked to sign papers declaring their children Basij members in order to receive their bodies and permission for burial ceremonies.
Others suggested that authorities might abandon plans for a burial altogether.
“It seems they have given up burying Khamenei,” one user wrote. “Maybe they are waiting for the US Navy to throw the carcass into the sea.”
“Khamenei’s body should be bombed again,” another post said. “I’m still not satisfied.”
The ministry said the operation was carried out jointly with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and resulted in the destruction of bases and ammunition depots belonging to the groups.
“Separatist terrorist groups intended to enter the country through the western borders, with the support of the American and Zionist enemy, and carry out attacks in urban and border areas,” the ministry said. “A significant portion of their positions and facilities were destroyed and heavy losses were inflicted.”
The statement added that Iranian forces were coordinating with Kurdish residents in border areas to monitor movements and prevent attacks.
“Armed forces and intelligence units, with the cooperation of courageous Kurdish compatriots, will thwart the American-Zionist enemy’s plans for any aggression against the country’s territory,” the ministry said.
Border officials reject infiltration reports
Local authorities in the western border region denied reports that armed fighters had entered Iran.
“No report of infiltration or illegal movement of armed groups has been registered in this part of the border,” the governor of Qasr-e Shirin on the Iraqi border said, according to Iranian media.
The reports circulating on social media about armed groups crossing the western border had no factual basis, the governor added.
Meanwhile, Nechirvan Barzani, president of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, said on Thursday that the autonomous region would not be part of any military confrontation or escalation.
A spokesperson for Iraq’s Kurdistan Regional Government also denied reports.
“Iraq's Kurdistan Regional Government denies reports claiming it is involved in plans to arm Kurdish opposition groups and send them into Iran,” the spokesperson said. “The Kurdistan Regional Government is not part of any campaign to expand war or tensions in the region.”
After joint Israeli-US strikes on Iran, the Islamic Republic and allied Shiite militias launched ballistic missile and drone attacks on Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, which hosts several Iranian Kurdish opposition groups in exile.
The strikes mainly targeted the regional capital, Erbil, where explosions, air-raid sirens and missile interceptions were reported.
Regional responses and US position
Regional officials and Washington also commented on Kurdish groups. Turkey said it was closely monitoring the activities of the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), an Iranian Kurdish opposition group linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).
“The activities of groups that fuel ethnic separatism, such as the terrorist organization PJAK, negatively affect not only Iran's security but also the overall peace and stability of the region,” Turkey’s defense ministry told a weekly briefing in Ankara.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth rejected reports that Washington planned to arm Kurdish groups.
“All I would say is none of our objectives are premised on the support or the arming of any particular force,” Hegseth said during a briefing on Wednesday.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also dismissed reports that the administration was considering supplying weapons to Kurdish fighters to spark an uprising inside Iran, saying the claims had “no factual basis.”
The reports come amid speculation that Iranian Kurdish groups could play a role in the wider conflict.
Earlier this week, Axios reported that several Kurdish factions based in Iraq had recently formed a coalition and were preparing for a possible ground offensive into northwestern Iran, citing US and Israeli officials and a source within one of the groups.
The report said some fighters had moved closer to the border in recent weeks, though Kurdish factions have publicly denied launching any attack.
Axios also reported that US President Donald Trump had spoken with Kurdish leaders in Iraq about the war with Iran, while Israeli officials were said to be exploring ways Kurdish forces could increase pressure on Tehran.
Kurds are an ethnic group concentrated mainly in parts of Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria, with communities also elsewhere; because Iran does not publish official ethnic census data, estimates of the Kurdish population in Iran vary widely, commonly ranging from about 7 million to 15 million people, or roughly 8% to 17% of the population, with most living in Iran’s western and northwestern provinces near the borders with Iraq and Turkey.
Several Iranian Kurdish opposition parties based largely in Iraq’s Kurdistan Region – including Komala and the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI) – have generally framed their demands around political rights and Kurdish self-rule within Iran, often describing that goal as autonomy in a federal system, while PJAK, an Iran-based Kurdish armed group aligned with the broader PKK-linked network, has advocated more sweeping political change and Kurdish self-determination.
“The United States Munitions Stockpiles have, at the medium and upper medium grade, never been higher or better,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The US, he wrote, has “a virtually unlimited supply of these weapons” and that “Wars can be fought ‘forever,’ and very successfully, using just these supplies.”
His remarks came after CNN and The Wall Street Journal reported concerns about the pace at which key US munitions are being consumed in the escalating war with Iran.
Meanwhile, Washington sustains both offensive strikes and defensive intercept operations across the region. US systems, including Patriot and THAAD batteries deployed in Israel and neighboring states, have been heavily engaged in countering Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks.
CNN reported on Monday that US reserves of certain missile systems – including Tomahawk land-attack missiles and SM-3 interceptors – are under strain amid sustained operations.
The Wall Street Journal also wrote Sunday that as the US planned operations against Iran, the military’s top general raised concerns about munitions stockpiles, particularly air defense interceptors needed to counter Iranian ballistic missiles and drones targeting regional sites hosting US forces.
Trump, in a separate post on Tuesday, called The Wall Street Journal report a “disgrace” on Truth Social, saying the United States has “unlimited mid to upper tier Weaponry – Brutal ‘stuff.’”
Iran’s arsenal under pressure
Trump told Politico on Tuesday that Iran was running out of crucial armaments.
“They’re running out and they’re running out of areas to shoot them, because they’re being decimated,” Trump said. “They’re running out of launchers.”
The New York Times reported Sunday, citing Israeli military officials, that Israeli airstrikes carried out since June last year have destroyed roughly 200 Iranian ballistic missile launchers and disabled dozens more – amounting to about half of Iran’s operational launcher fleet.
Israeli strikes, according to the report, during both the current offensive and last summer’s 12-day campaign also hit Iran’s primary explosives production facility. That complex provides key components for missile warheads and supports weapons programs including rockets, drones and cruise missiles.
Before last year’s assault, Israeli intelligence had assessed that Iran possessed approximately 3,000 ballistic missiles and was seeking to dramatically expand output, potentially reaching 8,000 missiles by 2027.
A Defense Express analysis on Tuesday said that as of Monday, Iran had launched at least 771 ballistic missiles at neighboring countries and Israel since the start of the conflict.
The figure is not definitive, as totals vary by reporting country and strikes remain ongoing. Defense Express noted that different states have published their own counts while Iran continues firing missiles, and Tehran has not released an official tally of launches.
Despite damage inflicted during the earlier campaign, The New York Times reported that Iran has attempted to rebuild its missile manufacturing capacity, with recent estimates suggesting output of dozens of missiles per month. The newspaper added that Iran has also sought components from abroad to restore its surface-to-surface missile arsenal.
Images from the briefing showed spokesperson Esmail Baghaei speaking from a podium inside Mahalati School in Tehran. Iranian outlets said the school had been hit in recent attacks and presented the setting as evidence that educational facilities were being targeted.
Holding an official briefing in a classroom also prompted renewed speculation online that some officials may be seeking to operate from civilian buildings.
In recent days, social media users have circulated videos and photographs that appear to show security forces stationed inside schools in Tehran and Shiraz.
Iran International has also reported on security activity inside medical facilities. In one case, it cited a hospital employee who said military commanders held meetings inside a Tehran hospital.
Military presence in civilian sites
Teachers’ unions have voiced alarm. The Coordinating Council of Iranian Teachers’ Trade Associations published an image a day before US-Israeli strikes began showing what it said was military equipment positioned inside a school, warning that classrooms were being turned into “shields for deadly equipment.”
Earlier this week, an image was released from a meeting of the interim leadership council, attended by President Masoud Pezeshkian, Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei and cleric Alireza Arafi.
Hours later, social media posts suggested the meeting had taken place in a ward at Tehran’s Arman Hospital.
International humanitarian law requires parties to distinguish between civilians and combatants, and between civilian objects and military objectives.
Schools and hospitals are protected unless, and for such time as, they are used for military purposes, and the use of civilians to shield military objectives is prohibited.
Disputed strike in Minab
The controversy intensified after Iranian media reported that an elementary and preschool complex in Minab, Hormozgan province, adjacent to an IRGC compound, was struck on February 28, killing more than 160 people.
Asked about the incident, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States would not deliberately target a school and that its objectives were focused on missiles, related manufacturing and launch capabilities, and drones.
"We would have no interest and frankly no incentive to target civilian infrastructure.”
Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said on Monday he had seen differing accounts of what happened in Minab, including claims that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards were responsible. He said Israel targets military assets and expressed regret for civilian casualties.
“We regret the loss of life of any civilian. And we pray for the people of Iran. But we have the intelligence and we target military assets. That’s what we do. The Iranians, they do exactly the opposite,” he said.
As the conflict deepens, any overlap between official or security activity and civilian sites could increase the risks for densely populated areas and raise further legal and humanitarian concerns.
“I think that is a big miscalculation on the part of Iran,” Petraeus told 24 with Fardad Farahzad Show, arguing that striking Arab countries that had sought to avoid direct involvement could push them to contribute more directly to regional defense efforts.
US and Israeli forces, Petraeus said, have already “dramatically degraded” Iran’s retaliatory capabilities, though he cautioned it was too early to determine whether the decline in attacks over the past 12 to 24 hours signaled a lasting shift.
“I think it's premature at this point to judge whether or not that will degrade further or if the volume can pick back up,” he said.
Coalition dynamics shift
Petraeus said Tehran’s decision to target regional states – including those that did not allow their bases to be used for operations – may alter the strategic calculus across the Persian Gulf.
Many countries in the region, he said, are already contributing to an integrated air and missile defense network that includes US-supplied Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense systems, along with naval assets and aircraft capable of intercepting incoming projectiles.
While he stopped short of predicting expanded offensive participation, Petraeus said additional Western powers could also align more closely with the effort. “I’m confident they are all taking part in the defensive efforts that are ongoing,” he said.
Uncertain path to political change
Addressing whether military pressure could lead to political transformation inside Iran, Petraeus said any lasting shift would depend primarily on internal fractures within the security forces and leadership.
“The sad reality in such cases often is that the most guys with the most guns and the most willing to be brutal to the people prevail,” he said, cautioning against assumptions that external air campaigns alone can bring about regime collapse.
Petraeus described exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi as a symbolic presence who has outlined a transition toward an elected government rather than dismantling all existing institutions.
Ultimately, he said, momentum would hinge on whether influential insiders conclude that continued confrontation has become unsustainable, shaping not only Iran’s future but the broader balance of power across the Middle East.
