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Inside Iran’s military: missiles, militias and a force built for survival

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Iran’s military is not designed to win a conventional war against the United States or Israel. It is designed to survive one, absorb damage and continue fighting over time, experts say.

That strategy is reflected both in how the force is built and how it is performing now, after weeks of sustained U.S. and Israeli strikes.

The scale of the campaign has been significant. More than 9,000 targets have been struck since the launch of Operation Epic Fury, according to a March 23, 2026, fact sheet from U.S. Central Command, alongside more than 9,000 combat flights, hitting missile sites, air defenses, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps command centers and weapons production facilities.

NEXT MOVE ON IRAN: SEIZE KHARG ISLAND, SECURE URANIUM OR RISK GROUND WAR ESCALATION

U.S. officials say the objective is clear. 

“We are targeting and eliminating Iran’s ballistic missile systems … destroying the Iranian Navy … and ensuring Iran cannot rapidly rebuild,” Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine said during a March Pentagon briefing.

But analysts caution that the picture is more complex.

“It’s a mixed bag,” Nicholas Carl, a fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute think tank and assistant director of the Critical Threats Project, told Fox News Digital. “On one hand, (Iran’s military) is badly degraded across the board, but the regime still retains a significant amount of capability.” 

INSIDE THE ISRAELI DRONE UNIT TAKING ON IRAN AND HEZBOLLAH

At the heart of Iran’s military system is a deliberate dual structure: the conventional army, known as the Artesh, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a parallel force created after the 1979 revolution to safeguard the regime.

According to Carl, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has shaped the armed forces throughout decades around one central objective: preserving the Islamic Republic and exporting its revolutionary ideology.

“You need to separate between the IRGC and the regular army,” Middle East intelligence expert Danny Citrinowicz told Fox News Digital. “The IRGC gets all of the budgets — better salaries, better equipment, better everything.”

Carl describes the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a “deeply ideological praetorian guard,” while the Artesh remains a more conventional force tasked with defending Iran’s borders.

But the distinction is not absolute. 

“The IRGC is probably the more dangerous of the two, but we cannot discount the threat that the regular military poses as well,” Carl said.

TRUMP’S IRAN STRATEGY SHOWCASES ‘DOCTRINE OF UNPREDICTABILITY’ AMID STRIKE THREATS AND SUDDEN PAUSE

Iran’s missile program remains the backbone of its military power, even after extensive strikes.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force has spent years building what Carl describes as the largest missile inventory in the Middle East.

U.S. officials say those capabilities have been significantly reduced with recent strikes. 

“Iran’s ballistic missile shots fired are down 86% from the first day of fighting,” Caine said in a Pentagon briefing earlier in March, adding that drone launches have dropped by roughly 73%.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said in the same briefing that the campaign has sharply limited Iran’s ability to sustain attacks. 

“The enemy can no longer shoot the volume of missiles they once did, not even close,” he said. 

But even U.S. officials acknowledge the threat persists. 

“Iran will still be able to shoot some missiles … and launch one-way attack drones,” Hegseth said.

Carl said the decline in fire has plateaued.

“Iranian missile and drone fire has dropped precipitously … about 90% since the war began… but that number has been consistent for weeks,” he said. “That means they still retain enough capability to sustain strikes across the region.”

Citrinowicz offered a similar assessment. 

“They suffered blows, but still hold the ability and still have the capacity to launch missiles for weeks to come,” he said.

U.S. estimates cited by Carl suggest roughly a third of Iran’s missile capabilities remain active.

“The regime still does have a significant capability to threaten targets across the region … especially as it demonstrates the ability to shoot beyond 2,000 kilometers,” Carl said.

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The Pentagon says it has made major gains against Iran’s naval forces.

More than 140 Iranian vessels have been damaged or destroyed, according to U.S. Central Command.

Caine said U.S. forces have “effectively neutralized” Iran’s major naval presence in the region.

But analysts warn that Iran’s naval threat was never dependent on large ships.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy is built around “area denial capabilities,” including fast attack craft, mines, missiles and drones designed to swarm adversaries and disrupt maritime movement.

“They still have the capacity — speedboats, drones, surface-to-sea missiles — allowing them to block the Strait of Hormuz,” Citrinowicz said.

Carl cautioned against a common misconception.

“It’s not technically accurate to say the Strait of Hormuz is closed … Iran is selectively denying access … firing at some ships while allowing others to pass,” he said.

“Iran has to do very, very little to achieve a meaningful effect.”

HEZBOLLAH, IRAN UNLEASH COORDINATED CLUSTER BOMB STRIKES ON ISRAEL IN MAJOR ESCALATION

U.S. officials say the campaign has achieved major progress in the air.

“We will have complete control of Iranian skies, uncontested airspace,” Hegseth said.

Caine added that U.S. forces have already established “localized air superiority” and are expanding operations deeper into Iranian territory.

But Iran’s air force was never the centerpiece of its strategy. Years of sanctions have left it reliant on aging aircraft and limited modernization, making it far less capable than its Western or regional adversaries.

“There is definitely a setback … but Iran was never built on an air force,” Citrinowicz said.

Instead, Iran relies on missiles, drones and layered defenses.

WHO ACTUALLY RUNS IRAN RIGHT NOW? THE KEY POWER PLAYERS AS TRUMP CLAIMS TALKS TO ‘TOP’ OFFICIAL

On the ground, Iran retains a key advantage: its forces have largely not been directly engaged.

The Artesh ground forces, which include tens of brigades, are positioned primarily to defend Iran’s borders, according to Carl’s report.

“The ground troops are still intact, nobody has invaded Iran,” Citrinowicz said.

He noted that ground forces are increasingly launching drones, signaling a broader shift in how Iran fights.

Beyond its borders, Iran’s military power is extended through a network of proxy forces managed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force.

Carl said the Quds Force provides “leadership, materiel, intelligence, training and funds” to allied militias across the Middle East, including Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis.

“The ‘Axis of Resistance’ is the central mechanism by which Iran can further regionalize the conflict … to endanger as many actors’ interests as possible,” Carl said.

US MOVES AIRBORNE TROOPS, MARINES AS IRAN REJECTS CEASEFIRE, RAISING GROUND WAR POTENTIAL

Iran’s military is also structured to confront internal threats, reinforcing its core purpose: regime survival.

The result is a force built on redundancy, asymmetry and endurance.

Even after weeks of sustained strikes, Iran retains enough capability to continue launching missiles, harassing global shipping and leveraging proxy forces across the region.

It may be weakened, but it remains strategically dangerous. 

“We cannot discount the threat that the Iranian military poses,” Carl said, “it remains a force capable of threatening regional and international security.”

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Supreme Court Delivers Emergency Decision – It’s Finally Happening

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Supreme Court Delivers Emergency Decision – It’s Finally Happening

President Donald Trump scored another significant legal victory Monday after the U.S. Supreme Court sided with his administration in a case challenging controversial Biden-era energy regulations that critics say would have reduced consumer choice and driven popular appliances out of the marketplace.

The ruling marks the latest setback for former President Joe Biden’s regulatory agenda and comes as the Trump administration continues working to roll back federal rules that conservatives argue placed unnecessary burdens on businesses and American consumers.

In *American Gas Association v. Department of Energy*, the Supreme Court vacated a lower court ruling that had upheld Biden administration regulations targeting non-condensing furnaces and commercial water heaters. The decision sends the case back for further review and opens the door for the Trump administration to pursue a different approach.

At the center of the dispute were Department of Energy efficiency standards that industry groups argued would effectively eliminate certain categories of gas-powered appliances by making compliance nearly impossible.

The American Gas Association and a coalition of trade organizations challenged the regulations, contending that the federal government had exceeded its authority and ignored statutory protections designed to preserve consumer choice.

Solicitor General John Sauer, representing the Trump administration, argued that federal law does not permit regulators to wipe out entire classes of products through aggressive efficiency mandates.

“The Department may not adopt standards that effectively eliminate from the market products that have distinct ‘performance characteristics,’” Solicitor General John Sauer wrote in a brief to the high court.

The Supreme Court ultimately agreed that the lower court should reconsider its ruling, delivering an important win for businesses, manufacturers, and consumers who opposed the regulations.

The Trump administration has already indicated that it intends to revisit the rules entirely.

“The Department has determined that the rules at issue are factually and legally flawed, and the agency is considering a new rulemaking in which it would correct those errors,” Sauer wrote.

The decision represents another major blow to Biden’s environmental and energy agenda, which frequently sought to use federal agencies to push stricter efficiency standards across a broad range of household products and appliances.

The legal victory comes just days after Republicans in the House of Representatives approved legislation targeting another Biden-era regulation that became a symbol of government overreach for many Americans.

Lawmakers voted 226-197 to pass the Saving Homeowners from Overregulation with Exceptional Rinsing Act, commonly known as the SHOWER Act.

The legislation attracted support from 11 Democrats and aims to reverse restrictions affecting multi-nozzle shower systems.

Republicans argued that Biden administration regulations unnecessarily reduced water pressure by limiting the combined flow rate of multiple shower heads connected to a single fixture.

Representative Russell Fry of South Carolina, who introduced the legislation, framed the issue as one of personal freedom and consumer choice.

“Washington bureaucrats have gone too far in dictating what happens in Americans’ own homes,” said Rep. Russell Fry (R-SC) who sponsored the legislation.

“This is about defending consumer choice, pushing back on regulatory overreach, and standing up for commonsense policy,” Fry added.

Supporters of the legislation argued that the rule reflected a broader pattern of federal agencies attempting to regulate everyday aspects of American life.

“It seems like the Democrats want to tax you out of existence and overregulate you,” said Rep. John McGuire (R-VA). “So, this is a step in the right direction. Less regulation.”

The SHOWER Act would permanently codify an executive order signed by President Trump that restored a more consumer-friendly interpretation of federal law. Under Trump’s order, each nozzle in a multi-head shower system is treated individually rather than having all nozzles combined under a single flow-rate limit.

House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie praised the legislation as a practical solution that returns decision-making power to consumers.

“By codifying how different nozzles are categorized, the SHOWER Act offers a commonsense fix that will allow households to choose what meets their needs, not what Washington mandates,” said Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY) chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Fry echoed those concerns and argued that the Biden administration’s approach had become a symbol of excessive federal interference.

He said, “The SHOWER Act reaffirms that each nozzle is a shower head — plain and simple — and that homeowners, not the federal government, should decide how much water pressure they want.”

Taken together, the Supreme Court’s ruling and the House vote represent major victories for President Trump’s broader effort to reduce federal regulations, expand consumer choice, and rein in what supporters view as years of bureaucratic overreach by Washington agencies.

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Trump Sends Haters Into Full Meltdown With Who He Brought To NBA Game

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Trump Sends Haters Into Full Meltdown With Who He Brought To NBA Game

President Donald Trump made a high-profile appearance Monday night at Madison Square Garden as the New York Knicks hosted Game 3 of the NBA Finals, bringing national attention to an already historic evening for New York City.

The Knicks entered the game with a commanding 2-0 series lead over the San Antonio Spurs and stood just two victories away from capturing their first NBA championship in decades. The matchup marked the first NBA Finals game played at Madison Square Garden since 1999, creating enormous excitement throughout the city.

Security around the arena was significantly heightened as President Trump attended the game alongside members of his administration, close advisers, and longtime allies. The increased security presence came just one day after six people were injured during a stabbing incident at nearby Penn Station, located directly beneath Madison Square Garden.

The president arrived to a packed arena and watched the game from a private suite alongside a number of prominent administration officials and advisers.

Among those reportedly attending with the president were:

Sec. Sean Duffy

Sec. Doug Burgum

Administrator Lee Zeldin

Deputy COS Dan Scavino

Jared Kushner

Envoy Steve Witkoff

Walt Nauta

Boris Epshteyn

Natalie Harp

The appearance highlighted Trump’s continued visibility on the national stage while also underscoring his deep connection to New York City, where he built his business career long before entering politics.

Meanwhile, as the president attended one of the biggest sporting events of the year, he continued drawing attention to another issue that has become a central focus of his administration: election integrity.

Trump has repeatedly criticized California’s election system as state officials continue counting ballots from last week’s primary elections. The prolonged counting process has reignited debate over election administration and voter confidence in the nation’s most populous state.

The controversy intensified after U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli disclosed that the Department of Justice has spent more than a year attempting to review California’s voter registration records.

“For over a year, the Department of Justice has been trying to audit California’s voter rolls,” Essayli said.

“Federal law gives the Attorney General the authority to review state voter files and confirm that only eligible U.S. citizens are voting in federal elections,” he added.

The dispute comes as California election officials continue processing large numbers of ballots days after polls closed. Unlike many states that report nearly complete election results within hours, California’s system routinely requires days or even weeks to finalize outcomes.

The lengthy process has fueled concerns among many voters who question why election results remain unresolved long after Election Day.

Essayli also highlighted several aspects of California’s voter registration policies that have attracted attention from federal officials.

Among the forms of identification accepted for certain voter registration purposes are gym membership cards, employer identification cards, credit and debit cards, prescription drug labels, and insurance cards.

Critics argue that such policies deserve closer scrutiny, while supporters maintain that safeguards are already in place to protect election integrity.

The issue has also renewed discussion surrounding the SAVE America Act, legislation supported by many Republicans that would establish nationwide proof-of-citizenship requirements for federal voter registration.

California officials continue to defend the state’s election system and insist that existing safeguards adequately protect the voting process. They also maintain that there is no evidence that widespread non-citizen voting has affected election outcomes.

Nevertheless, the Justice Department’s ongoing efforts suggest that federal scrutiny of California’s election practices is likely to continue in the months ahead.

As President Trump watched the Knicks pursue a championship before a national audience, the broader debate over election security, voter roll maintenance, and ballot-counting procedures remained front and center in American politics.

For the administration, both issues reflect themes that have become central to Trump’s presidency: public safety, government accountability, and restoring confidence in institutions that many Americans believe deserve greater transparency.

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Iran Makes Shocking Admission About Trump’s Strike On Ayatollah

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Iran Makes Shocking Admission About Trump’s Strike On Ayatollah

New details released by Iran’s own foreign minister are shedding light on the operation that eliminated Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and reshaped the balance of power in the Middle East.

The account, offered by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi during a televised interview, provides one of the clearest descriptions yet of the strike that launched Operation Epic Fury. According to counterterrorism experts, the remarks serve as powerful evidence that the joint U.S.-Israeli operation was not designed to indiscriminately destroy an entire complex but instead to surgically target the leadership at the center of Iran’s regime.

Araghchi revealed that he survived the February 28 strike because he was located in a different section of Khamenei’s compound when the attack occurred.

“Well, the building we were sitting in was targeted, but the wing we were in remained intact while the other wing of the building was destroyed,” Araghchi said in an interview that aired June 4 on the Lebanon-based, Hezbollah-backed Al Mayadeen television network.

The revelation immediately drew attention from military analysts, who pointed to the extraordinary accuracy required to destroy one section of a heavily protected compound while leaving another standing.

According to Araghchi, Khamenei was in his office at the time of the attack. Other officials inside portions of the compound also survived because they were not located in the targeted area.

Dr. Omar Mohammed, a counterterrorism expert and director of the Antisemitism Research Initiative at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, said the description confirms what many military observers suspected from the beginning.

“In the Arabic version, Araghchi says he was in a different wing of the compound, briefing another official, and his wing survived while the leader’s office was destroyed,” Mohammed explained.

Araghchi also disclosed that he had arrived at the compound for a meeting related to negotiations in Geneva and indicated that Khamenei was expected to be present in his office according to standard procedures.

Based on those details, Mohammed argued that the operation demonstrated an unprecedented level of intelligence gathering and precision targeting.

“They did not flatten a building; they took one wing and left the one next to it standing. That is President Trump’s whole doctrine in a single strike — he does not want a war of occupation, he wants to show the United States can reach the center of a hostile regime with precision and then offer it a way out,” Mohammed said.

Military officials later confirmed that the strike involved Israeli aircraft employing dozens of precision-guided munitions alongside advanced air-launched ballistic missiles. The attack reportedly killed Khamenei, Defense Minister Amir Nasirzadeh, IRGC Commander Mohammed Pakpour, and several additional senior security officials.

President Trump later publicly acknowledged U.S. involvement in the operation.

“He was unable to avoid our intelligence and highly sophisticated tracking systems, and, working closely with Israel, there was not a thing he or the other leaders killed alongside him could do,” the president wrote.

Mohammed believes the strike sent a message that Tehran should have immediately understood.

“Iran was handed the clearest message an adversary can get — we can reach your leader in his own office, and here is the off-ramp,” Mohammed noted. “A rational state takes the exit. Tehran did the opposite. It fired on Israel, killed a civilian in Bahrain, struck Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, and closed the Strait of Hormuz, setting off a global energy crisis. The surgical strike was American. The months-long war that followed was Iran’s choice.”

Following Khamenei’s death, leadership passed to his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, a transition that Mohammed believes revealed deeper contradictions within Iran’s political system.

“In Arabic, Araghchi calls the new leader ‘the young Khamenei in place of the elderly Khamenei.’ That is the language of a monarchy, not a republic of clerics,” Mohammed observed. “They are rewriting the theology on air to fit a son who lacks the religious rank, who was wounded in the same strike and who then vanished for weeks. A revolution that came to power by ending a monarchy is handing the throne from father to son.”

For many analysts, the operation has become a defining example of President Trump’s national security philosophy: use overwhelming precision to neutralize threats, avoid prolonged military occupations, and leave adversaries with a clear opportunity to de-escalate.

“The real story is not that Iran is strong,” Mohammed continued. “It was shown the precision of American power and the door was held open, and it chose to widen the war instead.”

Araghchi’s account appears to reinforce what American and Israeli officials have maintained from the start. The strike was not an act of indiscriminate destruction. It was a carefully planned operation aimed directly at the leadership of one of America’s most persistent adversaries, demonstrating both the reach and precision of modern U.S. military capabilities.

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