Mar 06, 2026
3 min read
In the sixth day of the war between Israel, the United States of America and Iran, one of the central issues is again the same one that has accompanied many royal conflicts.
The Ayatollahs are building an arsenal in Iran. Drones and missiles, how many weapons does the regime have
In the sixth day of the war between Israel, the United States and Iran, one of the central questions returns to the same question that has dogged many recent conflicts: Who will run out of weapons first?It is not a purely theoretical question.The duration of modern wars increasingly depends on the industrial and logistical capacity of the countries involved, as well as their immediate military strength.
The debate recalls the early years of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, when analysts and governments tried to figure out how much artillery ammunition was left in Kiev or how many tanks Moscow had.At the time it was thought that the end of hostilities would soon end with the equipment running out.The reality changed: new technologies, especially drones, changed the balance of the battlefield.
Iran, the European Union and NATO are on standby.The European shield was launched to protect Cyprus
Today the same question applies to Iran.How many missiles do the Ayatollahs really have?And how long can they continue to attack Israel and the Gulf countries?
According to Israeli and American intelligence estimates, Tehran had about a thousand ballistic missiles ready for use at the beginning of the current crisis.
In the first three days of fighting, Israel said it intercepted about 200 Iranian missiles.As the days went by, the number of bombs dropped may have increased to around 300.For comparison, in the war last June, Iran used about 500 bombs in twelve days.Therefore, the speed of attacks is higher than in the past.
ENVIRONMENT - The lies of the left against Meloni: they confuse the war with the referendum
As reported by "Corriere della Sera", reviving the predictions circulated by military analysts and intellectual sources, if these figures are confirmed, a significant part of the first stocks of Iran have already been used or destroyed before the launch, which could reduce the offensive power in the medium term.
But the number of available missiles is not the only decisive factor.Military analysts emphasize another decisive factor: the launcher.
A country may have hundreds or thousands of devices, but without an operational launch platform, it will be difficult to use them.In this sense, Israel and the United States are attempting to attack precisely these infrastructures.Fighter aircraft and reconnaissance systems are intended to detect and rapidly destroy mobile launchers as soon as they are activated.
To reduce the risk, Iran may have moved part of the operation to underground facilities and fixed locations.These installations are more secure but can be easily identified once discovered.To neutralize them, American strategic bombers equipped with devices designed to penetrate deep into the ground and fortified structures jumped into action.
'Soldiers in Iran?It's useless.' Trump resolved the dispute and restored diplomatic relations with Venezuela
Another fundamental factor is linked to production capacity.According to US estimates, Iran can produce up to a hundred ballistic missiles and thousands of drones per month.
However, due to international sanctions, building the most complex rockets requires components and materials that are difficult to find, especially for solid-fuel models.Liquid fuel rockets are easy to build and do not require advanced technologies.
Some of the sensitive components, especially in the guidance systems, can come from abroad through supply chains that bypass international restrictions. The rest of the production is mostly domestic. Besides ballistic missiles, the second leg of the Iranian arsenal is represented by the kamikaze unmanned aerial vehicles of the Shahid family. These are relatively simple and cheap planes, with an average price of about $50,000. They carry explosive charges weighing up to dozenspounds and used in large quantities to saturate opposing defenses.
Their effectiveness does not come from their destructive power, but from the relationship between value and outcome.Preventing one of these drones with high-tech air defense systems could cost millions of dollars.This economic imbalance makes defenses more expensive than attacks.
Shaheed has been used by Russia in recent years in the war against Ukraine and today is one of the main tools of the so-called asymmetric war.
After all, the confrontation between Israel, the United States and Iran is not only played out in the skies of the Middle East.A decisive part of the contest concerns the industrial capacity of the countries involved.
On the one hand, there are sophisticated air defenses and targeted bombs on infrastructure and artillery.On the other hand, there is the constant production of missiles and cheap drones.
The result is a competition that is not only about the weapons already available, but also about the speed with which each actor is able to recreate them.In a modern war, in fact, the front line is increasingly run by factories.
