Iran claims its weapons production has continued, and even increased during war

Iran's Deputy Defense Minister, Brig. Gen. Shahrukh Shahram, was quoted on Friday by state TV as saying the country's production of advanced weapons continued without interruption, claiming that Israel and the United States had miscalculated Iran's military industrial capabilities.

Shahram said Iran's foes had mistakenly believed that striking several Defense Ministry facilities would disrupt the country's military supply chain, failing to understand that the domestic defense industry is supported by a broader network of domestic industries and technology companies.

Shahram claimed Iran had relocated key military assets and facilities ahead of the conflict and that weapons production had even increased in response to the war launched by the U.S. and Israel on February 28.

Without providing any detail, Shahram said Iran's defense industry had moved beyond reverse engineering foreign weapons to developing domestic systems. 

He said Iranian military scientists killed during the war by Israel and the U.S. were being replaced by a new generation of young engineers and researchers, and he vowed that Iran would retaliate for the deaths of its personnel.

In testimony to Congress in May, the head of the U.S. military's Central Command Admiral Brad Cooper said the U.S. had damaged or destroyed more than 85% of Iran's ballistic missile, drone and naval industrial base through more than 1,450 strikes on weapons-manufacturing facilities. He told senators it would take Iran "a generation" to rebuild its navy and years for its drone and missile production to recover.