TEHRAN -- Iran has reconfigured key elements of its military and significantly upgraded its Arash loitering drone, according to Brigadier General Alireza Sheikh, the Iranian Army’s deputy for executive affairs, as Tehran strengthens its ability to strike and deter a far more powerful American military presence across West Asia.

“In the defense sector, we have strengthened the components of our power and achieved good successes,” Sheikh said in an interview with Defa Press.

He said Iranian forces have improved their ability to counter hostile drones, restricted the enemy’s operations around Iranian territory and forced opposing forces to operate from greater distances.

Most notably, Sheikh said Iran has “significantly upgraded” the Arash drone to make it more effective on the battlefield.

The statement comes amid fresh U.S. reporting pointing to the growing effectiveness of Iran’s missile-and-drone campaign and the damage inflicted on American military positions across the region.

A Thursday investigation by CBS News reported that dozens of U.S. troops at a small port facility in Kuwait came under an Iranian drone attack during the opening days of the war, despite intelligence warnings that the position was vulnerable.

According to U.S. sources cited by CBS, commanders had considered moving the troops to western Saudi Arabia but ultimately decided against the relocation.

The incident illustrates one of the central challenges facing Washington: the United States maintains an extensive network of military installations across the region, while Iran has developed a large arsenal of missiles and drones specifically suited to striking dispersed and heavily defended targets.

Iranian ballistic missiles have already demonstrated the ability to damage high-value American aircraft. Earlier this month, Iranian missiles struck the U.S.-used Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, damaging an A-10 attack aircraft and approximately eight F-15 fighter jets, according to a U.S. official cited by Reuters.

The significance of Iran’s missile force lies in its combination of range, volume and increasingly sophisticated targeting. Tehran does not need to match the United States aircraft for aircraft or naval vessel for naval vessel.

Its strategy is to threaten the fixed infrastructure on which American power projection depends: air bases, aircraft, logistics facilities, command centers and regional supply routes.

Iran’s drone arsenal adds another layer to that strategy.

The Arash loitering munition is part of a broader Iranian effort to develop relatively inexpensive unmanned systems that can be produced and deployed at scale.

Such weapons can complement ballistic and cruise missiles, complicating air-defense calculations by forcing an adversary to defend against threats arriving through different routes and at different speeds.

Recent American intelligence reporting suggests that Iran’s ability to use those weapons has also become more precise.

CNN reported on Friday that four U.S. officials claimed Chinese satellite imagery and geospatial intelligence had helped Iran improve its ability to track ships in the Strait of Hormuz and conduct precision strikes against American military positions. The officials linked the intelligence to a July strike on a U.S. base in Jordan that killed three American service members.

The development is significant because it points to a shift from Iran’s traditional reliance on missile and drone volume toward a more integrated strike system combining surveillance, targeting, missiles and unmanned aircraft.

The physical damage to U.S. forces has been substantial. A Pentagon watchdog assessment released earlier this month documented damage to hundreds of buildings and structures at American military facilities across Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan. The assessment also documented significant damage to American aircraft.

Photographs obtained by CBS News have provided a rare visual record of that damage, showing destroyed and damaged military infrastructure at U.S. positions in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

The costs extend beyond buildings and aircraft. American forces have been required to expend expensive air-defense interceptors against Iranian missiles and drones, creating an economic imbalance that Iranian officials have repeatedly highlighted.

Sheikh described the war as a contest of military and economic endurance.

“We were able, based on the logic of the defense economy, to bring the enemy to the brink of bankruptcy and challenge the enemy’s defense-economic logic,” he said, adding that Iran’s comparatively inexpensive missiles and drones have forced the United States to consume far more costly weapons.

Instead, Tehran has built a military doctrine around imposing costs on the vulnerabilities of a larger force.

That doctrine is particularly relevant in the Persian Gulf, where the geography itself provides Iran with additional leverage. The Strait of Hormuz, through which a substantial share of the world’s energy shipments passes, sits directly alongside Iran’s southern coastline.

Iranian officials have said the strait will remain under Iranian control unless Washington accepts Tehran’s conditions, while Iran has also presented a proposal for reopening the waterway.

The result is a war in which missiles and drones serve purposes extending far beyond individual battlefield strikes. They threaten American bases, aircraft and logistics while simultaneously giving Tehran leverage over regional shipping and energy markets.

Sheikh said Iran is continuing to reassess its tactics and develop new combinations of weapons and systems. “We are striving to expand our capabilities and re-evaluate our tactics, techniques and behavior,” he said.

He also stated that Iran has demonstrated during successive wars that it could withstand sustained pressure and preserve its deterrent capability.

The Institute for the Study of War’s Critical Threats Project said Thursday that Tehran’s objectives include degrading the U.S. ability and willingness to continue the war, restoring deterrence and securing recognition of Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz.

But the latest evidence points to a clear development in Iran’s military strategy. Tehran is combining ballistic and cruise missiles with increasingly capable drones, improved targeting and the geographic advantages of operating next to the Persian Gulf.

The strategy does not require Iran to achieve conventional military superiority over the United States. It requires Iran to remain capable of striking, disrupting and imposing costs on American forces over an extended period.

That is the logic behind Sheikh’s emphasis on endurance.

For Tehran, the objective is not simply to inflict damage in individual attacks. It is to make every American base, aircraft, supply route and naval deployment across the region part of an increasingly expensive defensive equation.

Iran’s upgraded Arash drone, its expanding missile arsenal and its evolving targeting capabilities are central to that effort — turning relatively inexpensive weapons into instruments capable of challenging one of the world's most powerful military networks.