As the United States continues its large-scale military buildup in the Middle East, Iran is taking steps that suggest it is preparing for war, including strengthening its nuclear facilities and rebuilding its missile manufacturing facilities.
Iranian and U.S. negotiators held indirect talks for three and a half hours in Geneva on Tuesday, but ended without a clear solution. Iran’s top diplomat, Abbas Aragushi, said the two countries had agreed to a set of “guiding principles,” but U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance said Iran did not recognize the “red lines” set by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Despite ongoing talks, the White House has been briefed that the U.S. military could be ready for an attack by the end of the week, following a buildup of air and naval assets in the Middle East in recent days, a person familiar with the matter told CNN.
Under threat of war, Iran has spent recent months repairing its main missile facilities and badly damaged air base, while further concealing its nuclear program. It has appointed veterans to its national security apparatus, conducted naval military exercises in the Persian Gulf, and launched a fierce crackdown on domestic opposition.
Last June, Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran, destroying part of its nuclear program, severely damaging its missile production facilities, and killing a key military commander. Over the ensuing 12-day conflict, Iran retaliated by firing hundreds of missiles and drones at Israeli cities, while the United States attacked three Iranian nuclear facilities, which US President Donald Trump claimed were “completely destroyed.”
Western countries have consistently failed to persuade Iran to rein in its missile program, which Tehran considers a central pillar of its military power and a right to self-defense.
Despite suffering heavy losses in the war with Israel, analysis of satellite images reveals that Iran has rebuilt its damaged missile facilities.
A satellite image of the Imam Ali missile base in Khorramabad taken on January 5 shows that of the dozen or so buildings destroyed by Israel, three have been rebuilt, one has been repaired, and three others are currently under construction. The facility includes a silo launch site, which is important for launching ballistic missiles, and is surrounded by earthworks and construction.
Two other military bases also underwent extensive repairs. Taxiways and runways have been restored at Tabriz Air Base in the northwest, which is linked to Iran’s medium-range ballistic missiles. Another missile base in the north of the city is undergoing extensive post-war construction. After being shut down by the bombing, all entrances have been reopened, support areas near the entrances have been largely rebuilt, and some tunnels are now open, according to CNN analysis and Sam Rea, a researcher at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies.
At Hamadan Air Base in western Iran, bomb craters on the runway have been filled and aircraft shelters repaired, CNN analysis and Lair said.
Iran also quickly rebuilt its largest and most modern solid-propellant missile production facility in Shahrd, a technology that enables rapid deployment of long-range missiles.
“I think the most important site is Shahrud. The damage there was repaired very quickly,” Rea said. “During the war, a new production line was being built there, but it was undamaged and is likely now in operation. This counterintuitively means that production of solid propellant missile motors, at least at that site, may be higher now than before the war.”
Despite showing flexibility in restricting its nuclear program, Iran is rapidly fortifying some of its nuclear facilities, using concrete and large amounts of earth to fill in key sites, according to new satellite images and analysis from the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS).
High-resolution satellite images analyzed by ISIS dated February 10, 2026, show that Iran continues to strengthen the tunnel entrance to an underground facility dug into Pickaxe Mountain near Natanz. Fresh concrete can be seen at both the west and east entrances, along with trucks and other construction equipment on site, providing added protection that could help protect the facility from potential air strikes.
Satellite images released this week of the nuclear facility known as Taleghan 2 at the Parchin military complex southeast of Tehran show that Iran has completed a concrete sarcophagus around the site, which is now covered with earth, according to the Washington-based institute focused on nuclear nonproliferation.
ISIS President David Albright warned in a post on X that “this facility may soon become a completely unrecognizable bunker, providing critical protection from air strikes.”
Image analysis reviewed by CNN shows that damaged structures have been rebuilt at the No. 7 factory in Tir Industrial Park near Isfahan in central Iran, which is involved in the production of centrifuge parts for uranium enrichment. The complex was authorized by the United Nations in October 2025.
“I think Iran is rebuilding its nuclear and missile programs, and probably doing so faster than Israel claimed during Operation Rising Lion,” Middlebury College Global Security Fellow Jeffrey Lewis told CNN, referring to the June Israeli airstrike.
He added: “The reconstruction of the building and other information suggest that Iran was able to replace the equipment or move it to a safe location underground before the attack.”
Last year’s conflict with Israel exposed weaknesses in Iran’s pressured chain of command, with access to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei becoming increasingly difficult and power reportedly devolved to provincial governors.
Since then, the Iranian government has strengthened the Supreme Council for National Security, led by Khamenei’s confidant Ali Larijani, and created a new body to govern in times of war, the National Defense Council.
Ali Shamkhani, a military veteran and former Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commander who survived an Israeli attempt on his life during last year’s war, was appointed this month as secretary of the National Defense Council, with the aim of “comprehensively strengthening defense preparedness” and developing “mechanisms to counter new threats,” Iranian security outlet Nour News reported.
Hamidreza Azizi, a visiting researcher at the German Institute for International Security Affairs, said Shamkhani’s appointment suggests Iran is preparing for a possible decapitation attack by the United States, and could even target the supreme leader himself.
“It’s… becoming a more pressing issue, a post-Khamenei succession issue, and they’re preparing for that… Whether that happens depends on a lot of factors, including the scale of a potential U.S. attack or operation. But this is at least what I see happening from within the regime,” he told CNN’s Becky Anderson.
Israel’s attack on Iran in June was preceded by sophisticated infiltration by Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, a tactic that added to the Iranian regime’s already paranoid state.
Iran has stepped up its crackdown on opposition amid concerns that war could lead to regime change. Security forces brutally cracked down on protests across the country last month, leaving thousands dead and many more arrested in the worst crackdown in the Islamic Republic’s history.
The regime has accused the protesters of being Israeli spies and has brought in brutal local Basij militias to quell demonstrations that were sparked by poor economic conditions but turned into calls for regime change.
And the regime’s growing paranoia is even turning inward. Last week, four prominent reformists who campaigned for President Massoud Pezeshkian were detained by Iranian security forces and accused of inciting an “internal atmosphere” and engaging in activities that “destroy national unity by spreading false positions against the country.”
As Iranian negotiators hold talks with the United States in Geneva, Iran has launched naval exercises in the Persian Gulf to demonstrate its destructive capabilities against America’s regional allies.
For the first time, the Revolutionary Guards closed part of the Strait of Hormuz for several hours to conduct naval exercises, according to Iranian media. The key chokepoint is located between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil production flows every day.
Iranian officials have previously threatened to close the strait in the face of tensions with the West, a scenario that could cause havoc in global energy markets.
According to Iranian state media, the Iranian navy also conducted joint exercises with Russia in the Gulf of Oman and the northern Indian Ocean, where the two countries conducted training to “recapture a mock hijacked ship.”
This month, the United States sent two aircraft carriers to the region, one of which shot down an Iranian drone that was aggressively approaching Iran in the Arabian Sea. Earlier, two gunboats operated by the Revolutionary Guard approached a U.S.-flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz and threatened to board and seize it, a U.S. military spokesman said.
Experts say Iranian officials are trying to send a message to the United States amid a U.S. military buildup and Iran’s wartime preparations.
“Iran’s tactics are trying to convince the United States that war is expensive,” said Vali Nasr, a professor at Johns Hopkins University. “This is not going to be like June. It’s not going to be like Venezuela where the United States has to face certain costs and has to calculate those costs before actually attacking Iran,” he said.
