Over the past four weeks, the United States has carried out more than 10,000 military strikes on Iran, according to a US expert, with civilian infrastructure also heavily affected. Approximately 190 medical facilities were reportedly hit, 12 hospitals destroyed, and around 80,000 civilian buildings damaged. At the same time, Iran is said to have forced the US to withdraw from 13 military bases in the Gulf region through missile and drone attacks, leaving only one operational base in northern Iraq. Key US and Israeli radar and air defense systems have also reportedly been destroyed, reducing warning times for attacks on Israeli cities to about one minute and significantly limiting defensive capabilities.
Iran is said to possess underground missile systems embedded deep in granite, reaching depths of up to 500 meters, with multiple exits and interconnected internal transport systems. These facilities are considered difficult to destroy and are described as the result of decades of preparation. Meanwhile, Iranian strikes have caused significant damage to energy infrastructure in the Gulf: 30 to 40 percent of refining capacity has reportedly been affected, about 11 million barrels per day of processing capacity lost, and around 20 percent of global liquefied natural gas production impacted, including roughly 70 percent of capacity in Qatar. As a result, oil prices have risen from about 60–70 US dollars to around 100 US dollars per barrel, with expectations of further increases, while strategic reserves could only compensate for about 20 days of supply disruption.
At the same time, military actions are intensifying on both sides, including attacks on major energy facilities in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Iran’s South Pars gas field. Reports indicate that the United States is deploying additional troops to the region, including Marine units and airborne forces, while a potential ground invasion is considered highly risky. Iran has threatened that in the event of further attacks, it will target oil and gas infrastructure in the Gulf states as well as desalination plants, on which Israel and the Gulf states are heavily dependent, with Israel obtaining about 80 percent of its water supply from desalination.