US Official: US-Israeli Bombing Campaign Has Left a More Hardened and Resilient Iran

by Dave DeCamp | May 19, 2026

https://news.antiwar.com/2026/05/19/us-official-us-israeli-bombing-campaign-has-left-a-more-hardened-and-resilient-iran/

The New York Times reported on Monday that the five-week US-Israeli bombing campaign against Iran “has left a more hardened, resilient adversary” as the Iranian military is preparing to face renewed airstrikes.

The report, which cited an unnamed US military official, said that Iran has used the ceasefire to “dig out scores of bombed ballistic missile sites, move mobile missile launchers, and, despite significant losses, adjust its tactics for any resumption of strikes.”

The Times previously reported that the US intelligence assessments have found that Iran still has about 70% of its pre-war missile inventory and fields 70% of its missile launchers, a starkly different picture than what the Trump administration has claimed publicly.

The US military official speaking to the Times this week said that the US-Israeli bombing campaign instilled a belief in Iran that the country can resist more attacks by keeping the Strait of Hormuz closed, striking energy infrastructure across Gulf Arab states, and shooting down US aircraft.

The report came after President Trump said that he would “hold off” on plans to attack the Islamic Republic due to requests from Gulf Arab states to give diplomacy more of a chance. But the president threatened that US-Israeli attacks could resume at any moment, stating that he instructed the US military to “go forward with a full, large scale assault of Iran, on a moment’s notice, in the event that an acceptable Deal is not reached.”

The Times report said that some US officials were concerned that Trump’s announcement that he was holding off on attacking Iran could be a “form of misdirection and that he could still move ahead with strikes,” since he launched the war in February while another round of negotiations with Iran was scheduled. The June 2025 war also began right after Trump declared on Truth Social that he was committed to a diplomatic solution with Iran, a post that came as Israeli warplanes were getting in the air to bomb Iran.