U.S. and Israel Have Pounded—but Not Eliminated—Iran's Missile Threat

The U.S. and Israel are pounding Iran's missile-launching sites, hitting some over and over across almost a month of war. But Tehran's missiles keep flying.

Iran has shifted to firing from deeper inside its territory with longer-range missiles, military analysts and former U.S. officers said, after airstrikes early in the war inflicted a heavy toll on Iranian bases and truck launchers near the Persian Gulf coastline. Iran is firing far fewer missiles now—down to around a dozen a day—but they have turned them against less-defended targets in Israel and Gulf Arab states, causing greater damage in some cases.

Even in small numbers, the weapons have helped Tehran achieve its goals—prolong the conflict, raise the economic costs on oil-exporting Gulf countries and in the U.S., and survive to fight another day.

"They're not doing the big volleys like they were doing in the early days, but they don't need to," said retired Gen. Joseph Votel, the former commander of U.S. Central Command. "All they really have to do is get something through, and they get a big bang for the buck."