The Telegraph newspaper reported that due to the sharp decline in the number of missiles launched from Iran, it appears that the Iranian regime may be losing its capability to fire ballistic missiles.
The Telegraph wrote on Wednesday, March 4, that the reason for this appears to be both the depletion of missile stockpiles and the destruction of missile launchers during Israeli and U.S. attacks. It added that according to analyses published by countries targeted by the Iranian regime’s attacks, Tehran has significantly reduced the number of ballistic missiles it launches within a 24-hour period.
The newspaper added, quoting experts, that this could be the result of the loss of ground-based missile launchers in U.S. strikes.
Resistance Units Intensify Activities Across Iran Amid External Military Strikes
It is believed that in the first days of this conflict, the Iranian regime launched hundreds more missiles than it had fired during the 12-day war with Israel in June last year.
Countries such as the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait publish daily statistics on Iranian missiles and drones launched toward them.
During the first two days of the war, the Iranian regime fired an average of 58 ballistic missiles per day toward the United Arab Emirates, but by the fourth day this number dropped to only 10 missiles.
A defense analyst said this is an early indication that Iran’s ballistic missile stockpiles are running out.
Bahrain announced on Tuesday that it had successfully intercepted a total of 70 missiles since the start of the attacks. This number reached 74 by Wednesday. While seven ballistic missiles were launched at Bahrain on Monday, that number fell to four on Wednesday.
Kuwait said that it dealt with 97 ballistic missiles during the first 24 hours of the war, but it did not release new figures in the following days.
Qatar’s Ministry of Defense announced on Wednesday that the country was targeted by two ballistic missiles, one of which struck Al Udeid Air Base but caused no casualties.
Qatar says that at least 101 ballistic missiles have been launched toward the country in total, most of them during the first and second days of the war.
The U.S. strategy has focused on destroying Iran’s offensive capabilities, and in recent days many of Iran’s ground-based missile launchers have been destroyed.
Satellite imagery also shows that major damage has been inflicted on missile facilities across Iran.
Given that this conflict is far more critical from the regime’s perspective and that short-range ballistic missiles are still usable, a much higher level of ballistic missile use would have been expected—unless Iran’s missile capability and launchers had been severely weakened, which appears to be the case.
At the same time, The Wall Street Journal, citing informed sources, reported that the United States is also rapidly consuming its stockpiles of precision weapons and may be only a few days away from having to prioritize targets for interception.
