Image shows the aftermath of an Iranian missile strike on Tel Aviv in June. ( Amir Levy/Getty Images)
TRUMP BROKERS IRAN CEASEFIRE AS EXPERTS SAY REGIME’S ARSENAL IS SHATTERED BUT THREAT REMAINS
"The regime has increasingly been forced to choose between using or losing these projectiles as Israel targeted missile launchers," said Behnam Ben Taleblu, Iran expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Replacing the missile launchers after Israel degraded their production capabilities will be extremely difficult, according to Danny Citrinowicz, Iran expert at the Institute for National Security Studies.
"Israel attacked every place that the Iranians manufacture missiles," he told Fox News Digital.
Iran may have the capacity to attack Israel with its missiles, but "not in the hundreds."
Iranian rhetoric occasionally has floated the idea of striking the U.S. directly, but analysts agree that the threat is far more limited.
"The theoretical way they can strike the U.S. is just using their capacity in Venezuela," Citrinowicz said, referring to Iran’s growing military cooperation with its capital of Caracas. "Strategically, it was one of the main goals that they had — to build their presence in Venezuela. But it's a long shot. It would be very hard to do so, and I'm not sure the Venezuelan government would like that to happen."
Instead, any retaliatory strike would likely focus on U.S. assets and personnel in the Middle East.
Can Kasapoglu, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and Middle East military affairs expert, said Israel's war aims went beyond missile factories, targeting Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and advanced weapons development.
"We are not 100% sure about the damage to centrifuges, so we cannot say the nuclear program is annihilated," Kasapoglu said. "But we can safely assume the nuclear program had a setback for years."
ISRAELI DEFENSIVE CAPABILITIES PREVENTED ‘FAR GREATER DESTRUCTION,’ EXPERT SAYS
He added that Israel focused heavily on Iran’s solid-propellant, medium-range ballistic missiles — many of which have "very high terminal velocity, close to Mach 10," and are capable of evasive maneuvers.
"That makes them even more dangerous," he said.
Still, despite the setbacks, Iran "is still the largest ballistic missile power in the Middle East," he emphasized. "We saw that during the war, as Iran was able to penetrate Israeli airspace — even when Israeli and American interceptors were firing interceptor after interceptor to stop a single ballistic missile."
"The Houthis are the one Iranian proxy I am really concerned about," said one military expert. (The Associated Press)
With advanced Chinese satellite support and hardened anti-ship cruise missiles, the Houthis could destabilize shipping lanes and widen the conflict beyond the Israel-Iran front.
"Iran still has significant asymmetric capabilities in the maritime domain and transnational terrorist apparatus, but it's hard to see how deploying these assets would not invite further ruin," said Taleblu. "Bluster and hyperbole have long been elements of Iran's deterrence strategy."
The so-called "12-Day War" ended in a U.S.-brokered ceasefire, but the region remains on edge. Iran’s leaders continue to boast about untapped military capabilities, but battlefield losses, manufacturing disruptions and previous counter-attack measures have limited its options.
While Tehran retains the power to project force and threaten both Israel and U.S. regional assets, experts agree that its ability to launch sustained, high-volume attacks has been meaningfully curtailed.
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Iran may still be dangerous, but its bark, for now, may be louder than its bite.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/iran-says-can-strike-u-s-israel-two-years-does-really-have-power