Strategic Arms Production Triples Despite U.S.-Israeli War
TEHRAN – Iran’s defense industry kept weapons production running during the latest war, with output of some strategic equipment rising more than threefold despite U.S.-Israeli attacks, officials said Saturday.
Acting Defense Minister Brigadier General Seyyed Majid Ibn-e-Reza said Iran maintained production lines for weapons and equipment required by the armed forces and deployed new offensive and defensive systems during wartime.
“Despite the enemy’s claim that Iran’s defense industry had been destroyed during the recent wars, we managed, through foresight and proper planning, to keep production lines for the equipment and weapons required by the armed forces operational,” he said at a ceremony marking Iran’s Defense Industry Day here.
“Beyond that, we succeeded in deploying new offensive and defensive systems
on the battlefield under wartime conditions, and this process is continuing with strength.”
Defense Ministry spokesman Brigadier General Reza Talaei-Nik separately said production of some strategic defense products and necessities increased by more than three times during the 40-day war.
He said defense production increased significantly from July 2025 to July 2026, particularly after the 12-day war, while production of weapons, equipment and ammunition doubled over the past year.
“One of the prominent features of our defense industry is the speed and capability to produce defense products,” Talaei-Nik said. “To the extent that weapons and ammunition are used on the battlefield, they are replaced at the same speed.”
“In other words, while indigenous Iranian weapons and equipment are being used, production is simultaneously continuing,” he added.
Talaei-Nik said the increase in production during the latest U.S.-Israeli aggression demonstrated the importance of maintaining sustainable defense production within Iran’s national industrial ecosystem.
He said the country’s current defense capabilities are fundamentally different from those available during the eight-year war imposed on Iran in the 1980s.
The defense ministry spokesman also described economic efficiency as another achievement, saying domestic production costs for some weapons and military equipment were significantly lower than those of foreign equivalents.
“The economic efficiency of our defense production and defense industry is the result of indigenization, knowledge-based production and the extensive network across the country,” he said.
Ibn-e-Reza said Iran’s wartime performance exposed miscalculations by its adversaries regarding the country’s domestic conditions and its social, political and economic resilience.
“Iran’s deterrent and defensive power in this war was based on operational capabilities, many of which had not been incorporated into American and Israeli calculations,” he said.
He said Iran’s defensive operations combined offensive approaches, operational and tactical command models for crisis conditions, delegation of responsibilities to lower-level units if the chain of command was disrupted, and indigenous weapons capabilities.
“Real deterrence is achieved through domestic technologies, a resilient and flexible industrial capacity, and the determination of a committed nation to defend its sovereignty,” Ibn-e-Reza said.
He described Iran’s outcome in the war as a “strategic defeat” for the United States and Israel and said Tehran will not yield to external pressure.
Ibn-e-Reza also called for new regional security arrangements in the Persian Gulf, stating that stability should be based on respect for national sovereignty and international law rather than unilateral coercion.
“It is time for new arrangements in the Persian Gulf to be established by the countries of the region,” he said. “The Islamic Republic of Iran is ready for close cooperation with regional countries and is prepared to share constructive ideas and proposals aimed at establishing a reliable framework for collective security.”
IRGC chief commander Major General Ahmad Vahidi likewise said Iran must continue strengthening its defensive and offensive capabilities because its enemies will not abandon their hostility and conspiracies against the country.
He said the latest wars demonstrated the emergence of new forms of “hybrid and military aggression,” alongside crimes against humanity.
Iran’s defense and military equipment production, Vahidi said, will continue with “greater strength, prudence, speed, and wisdom,” describing the strategy as necessary to counter threats and enemy conspiracies.
He credited the armed forces and defense industry with creating a “formidable defensive shield” that had been tested on what he called “real and historic battlefields.”