Iran has restarted some drone production during a six-week ceasefire that began in early April, according to two sources familiar with U.S. intelligence assessments - a sign that the country is quickly rebuilding some of its military capabilities damaged by U.S.-Israeli strikes. Four sources told CNN that U.S. intelligence shows that the Iranian military is rebuilding much faster than initially estimated.
The four sources with knowledge of the relevant intelligence said that Iran is rebuilding its military capabilities, including repairing missile sites, launchers and restoring production of key weapons systems that were destroyed in this conflict. This means that Iran will still pose a major threat to America's regional allies should President Donald Trump resume his bombing campaign. This also calls into question the claim that "U.S.-Israeli strikes have weakened Iran's military power for a long time."
One of the sources (a U.S. official) told CNN that although the production resumption cycles of different weapons components vary, some U.S. intelligence assessments believe that Iran can fully restore its drone attack capabilities in as little as six months.
"Iran's reconstruction progress has exceeded all time expectations set by the intelligence community," the U.S. official said.
Drone attacks are particularly worrying for allies in the Middle East. Once the war resumes, Iran can use drones to increase its offensive to make up for its significantly weakened missile production capacity and continue to attack Israel and the Gulf countries that are within the range of these two types of weapons.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to restart military operations against Iran if the United States and Iran fail to reach an armistice agreement. He also publicly stated on Tuesday that he was only one hour away from restarting bombing operations, which also means that Iran's rebuilt military power may be put into actual combat at any time.
A source familiar with the latest U.S. intelligence assessment revealed that the blow to Iran's defense industrial base will at most delay the process of rebuilding its military strength by months, not years. The person also pointed out that some of Iran's defense industrial facilities are still intact, which will further shorten the recovery cycle of some of its military forces.