The Islamic Republic of Iran has fired drones and ballistic missiles at neighbors, including Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, and Israel in response to a joint attack by Israel and the United States on its territory. The regime’s targets included more than U.S. bases but also civilian infrastructure.

Iran’s missiles and launchers were targeted by Israel during the 2025 12-Day War, but the regime has a large arsenal of shorter-range systems capable of reaching its neighbors and U.S. military bases. Enough are believed to have survived for Tehran to control the largest ballistic missile arsenal in the Middle East. This arsenal is composed of close-range, short-range, and medium-range systems and both solid- and liquid-propellant systems. These projectiles are dispersed across above and below ground missile depots and bases across the country, The Caspian Post reports via FDD.

photo: FDD

Ballistic missiles play an outsized role in Iranian security strategy, offering the regime the ability to deter and coerce adversaries. For years, Iran has been working to increase the lethality, survivability, mobility, precision, and range of these projectiles, which Tehran continues to test, transfer, and use in military operations against state and non-state actors alike directly from Iranian territory. U.S. intelligence has previously assessed that a ballistic missile would be the most likely delivery vehicle for an Iranian nuclear weapon, whereas the Islamic Republic’s space program affords it the ability to develop longer-range platforms that could it could use to target Europe or the American homeland.