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The Iranian Armed Forces and the Third Gulf War

Dr Antonio Giustozzi
22 May 2026clockLong Read
A fighter jet taxis into a Oghab-44 underground airbase, in an undisclosed location in Iran.

Buried defences: A fighter jet taxis into a Oghab-44 underground airbase, in an undisclosed location in Iran. Image: Associated Press / Alamy Stock

From the June 2025 war onwards, the Iranian armed forces have adapted, struggled and adapted again to fight US and Israeli military might.

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WRITTEN BY

Dr Antonio Giustozzi

Senior Research Fellow

Terrorism and Conflict

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Footnotes

1.:

Antonio Giustozzi, ‘The Iranian Armed Forces and the 12-Day War’, The RUSI Journal, 170:6-7, 2025.

2.:

Farzin Nadimi, ‘Iran Unveils New Underground Air Base’, Washington Institute, 13 February 2023.

3.:

Iranian air force source, April 2026.

4.:

IRGC source, March 2026.

5.:

‘Iran reveals huge underground missile base with broadcast on state TV’, AFP, 15 October 2015.

6.:

IRGC sources, June 2025 and March 2026.

7.:

IRGC source, March 2026.

8.:

IRGC source, March 2026.

9.:

IRGC source, March 2026.

10.:

See A. Giustozzi, ‘The Iranian Armed Forces and the 12-Day War’, The RUSI Journal, 170:6-7, 2025.

11.:

Iranian aerospace force source, March 2026.

12.:

IRGC source, July 2025.

13.:

Frud Bezhan, ‘With Top Brass Dead, Iran Deploys Decentralized 'Mosaic' Strategy To Boost Defenses’, RFE/RL, 7 March 2026.

14.:

IRGC source, March 2026.

15.:

IRGC sources, March 2026.

16.:

Iranian air force source, April 2026.

17.:
18.:

IRGC source, March 2026.

19.:

Iranian aerospace force source, March 2026.

20.:

Iranian air force sources, March and April 2026; IRGC source, March 2026.

21.:
22.:

Stephen Losey, ‘The Rescue of DUDE 44: Inside the Massive Operation to Save Two Downed Airmen In Iran’, Air & Space Forces, 6 April 2026.

23.:

Iranian air force sources, March and April 2026. On Iran’s loitering misisles see Oded Yaron, ‘Saqr 358 Iranian Loitering Missile Targeting Israeli and American UAVs’, Haaretz, 29 November 2023.

24.:

IRGC source, March 2026; Dan De Luce, Justin Goldman and Jiachuan Wu, ‘Tracking Iran's military attacks on Gulf states’, NBC News, 27 March 2026.

25.:

Iran’s airspace force source, April 2026.

26.:

Israeli estimates roughly coincide, see Bilal Khan, ‘ US-Iran War 2026: Operation Epic Fury, the Strait of Hormuz Crisis, and the Limits of American Air Power’, Quwa, 3 May 2026.

27.:

US officials confirmed this according to ‘Iran accelerates effort to recover buried missiles during ceasefire’, Iran International, 1 May 2026; Junia E. Barnes and Eric Schmitt, ‘Iran Is Quickly Repairing Missile Bunkers', The New York Times, 3 April 2026.

28.:

Iran’s airspace force sources, March and April 2026. Western assessments varied but were more or less in line this this one: Haley Brotsky et al., ‘Exclusive: US intelligence assesses Iran maintains significant missile launching capability, sources say’, CNN, 3 April 2026; Mark Mazzetti, Adam Entous and Julian E. Barnes, ‘For Iran, Flexing Control Over Waterway Is New Deterrent’, The New York Times, 18 April 2026.

29.:

Iran airspace forces sources, July 2025, March 2026 and April 2026.

30.:

Iran airspace forces source, March 2026.

31.:

IRGC source, April 2026. See also Tom Pashby, ‘Countering Iran’s UAS swarms ‘requires compressing the kill chain’, Resilience Media, 21 April 2026.

32.:

‘Iranian navy badly beaten - list of losses’, Marine Forum, 5 March 2026.

33.:

IRGC Navy source, April 2026.

34.:

IRGC Navy source, April 2026.

35.:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4gG6_p740E

36.:

IRGC source, April 2026.

37.:

IRGC source, April 2026; Lorenzo Tondo, ‘Breaching the Iron Dome: the Iranian cluster bombs bypassing Israeli air defences’, The Guardian, 23 March 2026; Isabel Kershner, ‘Israel's Missile Defense Under Scrutiny After Iranian Attack', The New York Times, 22 March 2026.

38.:

IRGC source, March 2026.

39.:

IRGC source, March 2026.

40.:

Iran’s airspace force sources, March and April 2026.

41.:

Iran’s air defence force sources, March and April 2026.

42.:

IRGC source, April 2026.

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