Military says covert reconstruction, sanctions evasion and renewed proxy funding helped drive the joint Israeli-U.S. Operation Roaring Lion / Epic Fury
Eight months after the 12-day war known in Israel as Operation Rising Lion in June 2025, Iran has been quietly rebuilding critical military capabilities damaged during the war, according to assessments released by the Israel Defense Forces.
The IDF says the Iranian regime used the months following the strikes to repair nuclear infrastructure, expand ballistic missile production and strengthen regional proxy forces – all while attempting to conceal the scale of its efforts.
On the final day of Operation Rising Lion, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Mohammad Eslami, publicly acknowledged that Israeli strikes had caused significant damage to the country’s nuclear infrastructure and that efforts to rehabilitate it were already underway.
