An Israeli defense official explained that Tehran had learned lessons during the war in June, and the Iranian military was not close to collapse. 

“The Iranians learned lessons from Operation Kalavy,” a senior Israeli military official told the Israeli outlet Walla on Tuesday. “They are still functioning militarily at a level that is between moderate and weak, but they are functioning. There is confusion there, there is great difficulty, but there are no signs of collapse.”

Following the joint US and Israeli attack on Iran on Saturday, the Iranian military quickly began responding by striking Israel and US military bases in the Middle East. Several Iranian missiles have bypassed American and Israeli interceptors, leading to the deaths of at least six American soldiers. 

The war started after several rounds of talks between the US and Iran. While negotiators said progress was made during the discussions last week, President Donald Trump said he was unhappy with the process and ordered the attack. 

The senior Israeli official told Walla that Theran made a mistake engaging with the US. “The Iranians made two strategic mistakes. The first is the conduct of negotiations with the US,” they explained. 

US officials told the press after the start of the conflict that the White House was planning for a campaign that would last a few days. Top US officials have publicly increased the timeline, with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth explaining the war could last eight weeks or longer. 

Politico reported on Wednesday that the military was now planning for the conflict to last at least 100 days, but more likely through September. On Tuesday, Maj. Gen. Amir Baram said Tel Aviv was ramping up arms production in preparation for a long and expanding conflict. 

“The discussion focused on accelerating the production rate of essential offensive and defensive solutions, as part of the preparations for continued combat and the potential expansion to additional fronts,” he explained.