Iran tripled its drone production capacity during the war, acting Iranian Defense Minister Brig.-Gen. Majid Ebn al-Reza claimed on Saturday.
“At a joint meeting with the Parliament’s National Security Commission, I emphasized: The recent war demonstrated that Iranian elites and investment in advanced technologies constitute the most important pillar of the country’s defense might,” he wrote on X/Twitter.
“At the height of the war, not only did defense production continue uninterrupted, but our drone production capacity also increased threefold,” the general stated.
During the meeting, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported that Reza said the recent war had served as a catalyst for Iran to increase investment in defense capabilities and drone production, particularly as drones had allowed Tehran to “identify the enemy’s weak points.”
Iran used low-flying drones during the conflict to target radars without detection. These radars are used to alert US allies of incoming attacks and help coordinate missile interceptions. During the war, Tehran targeted a number of THAAD batteries and radar systems, degrading defensive capabilities and reducing response times.
Former US national security adviser HR McMaster told CBS News last week that Iran had recovered around 50% of the missile stockpiles it held before the war.
Intelligence sources already began alerting international media sites like CNN in May that Iran was rebuilding its arsenal at a speed far exceeding initial expectations, replacing missile sites, launchers, and production capacity.
At the time of the report, 50% of Iran’s drone capabilities were understood to still exist.
Reza’s statement also came as Iran resumed attacks on its Gulf neighbors and vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, prompting renewed US military strikes against Iranian targets.
CBS: Some Iranian officials wish to avoid all-out war with US
Though the kinetic actions have heated up, and Reza has indicated a continued investment in war-related materials, the Institute for the Study of War theorized that some of the country’s decision-makers were still trying to avoid a return to full-scale war with the US, based on a Friday report by CBS News.
Senior US officials told the site that the renewed attacks by Iran had been ordered by an “errant” sect of hardliners seeking to undermine negotiations. American officials also told Axios on Friday that Iran’s negotiation team had asked for renewed talks.
Deepening divisions within regime
Reports of fractures within the regime have circulated for months, with those divisions appearing to deepen after Iran signed a memorandum of understanding with Washington.
Although the agreement was widely viewed as favorable to Tehran, it proved unpopular among Iranian hardliners, many of whom wanted the war against Israel and the United States to continue despite the heavy losses Iran had already sustained.
Dr. Menahem Merhavi, a researcher specializing in modern Iran and Shia Islam, said he would be careful not to define such fractures as a divide.
“There is tension between different factions and currents within the ruling elite in Iran. The president represents a more moderate, pro-negotiation approach, while parts of the Revolutionary Guards and the Supreme Leader, to the extent that he is involved in decision-making, are more averse to that approach,” he explained to The Jerusalem Post.
“I wouldn’t describe it as a divide in the sense of one side trying to outmaneuver the other or take a shortcut around the system. Rather, it is a discussion that is eventually resolved through a decision, and once that decision is made, it is binding on the entire system.