The United States and Israel bombed Iranian bridges that could be rebuilt in 48 hours and spared those that would take years. Iran International has mapped the network they tested: 670 rail bridges and 380 tunnels that carry Iran's missiles, its army and its trade.
In the war that began on February 28 and ended with a ceasefire in April, strikes on rail and road bridges became one of the most conspicuous tactics of the American and Israeli campaign, and one that continued after the guns were supposed to have stopped. In the 12-day war of June 2025, attacks on bridges had been rare. This time three distinct patterns emerged.
The first came on the night of April 7, when six rail bridges were struck. Four of them, placed on a map of the national railway, severed Tehran's connection to the network and so to the northwest, the northeast, the south, the southeast and the southwest of the country.
The second was the attack on the bridges at Bandar Khamir, on the coast opposite the Strait of Hormuz, which cut the east-west road along the Persian Gulf with no effective alternative.
The third was the strike on the Aq Tekeh Khan rail bridge in Golestan province and the B-1 road bridge near Karaj, whose logistical importance was limited compared with the main routes but whose symbolic weight was not.
The pattern in what was hit is as telling as what was not. Unlike Iraq during the eight-year war of the 1980s, which went after the piers of the Qotur, Tele-Zang and Pol-e Siah bridges and put them out of use for years, the American and Israeli strikes chose smaller structures that could be repaired: Moghimabad, Yahyaabad, Chaharbagh and their like. Even B-1, the only large bridge struck, kept its piers. When Iraq destroyed the piers of the Qotur bridge in the 1980s, the repair took close to ten years. Almost every bridge struck this year was back in service within days, patched with prefabricated concrete culverts.
The damage was light but the strikes were a reminder of how exposed Iran's logistics are in the parts of the network that serve both military and civilian purposes, which is most of it.
Iran International's mapping shows that along the 25 principal roads that connect nearly every known missile production and assembly center and every "missile city" to one another, and that serve the bases of the Revolutionary Guards' and the regular army's ground forces, there are about 800 bridges and 90 large tunnels. On the national railway there are 670 bridges and 380 large tunnels, counting only structures with a deck longer than 30 meters.
The Iran-backed group has seized Red Sea islands and expanded along Yemen's mainland coast in recent weeks, including taking the port city of Mokha, according to the report. It has also asserted control over the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, a key route for global trade and energy shipments.
The Houthis, estimated to have about 350,000 fighters, had prepared for the offensive for months, moving weapons and thousands of troops toward Mokha in August and using their control of telecommunications networks to monitor opponents, the Journal said.
Iranian technology at the core
The Houthis lack a conventional navy but use Iranian-designed missiles, explosive drones, sea mines, armed fast boats and drone boats to project power along Yemen's coast.
Their arsenal includes ballistic and cruise missiles, anti-ship weapons and drones drawing heavily on Iranian technology and components, according to the report.
Around 2015, Iran's Quds Force began sending components for Iranian-designed missiles and drones and dispatched trainers to help the Houthis build weapons themselves, the Journal said.
The assistance helped turn the group into a force capable of attacking Saudi oil infrastructure, disrupting Red Sea shipping and threatening US forces.
China becomes another supply source
"The Houthis now have a new source for the supplies they need to launch their attacks: China," the Journal reported.
Chinese companies are supplying dual-use goods that can serve civilian and military purposes, including components important to Houthi drone programs, according to UN reports and arms experts cited by the newspaper.
The shift comes as traditional Iranian smuggling routes have faced greater disruption. For years, Iran's Revolutionary Guards used small fishing boats to move arms, drone components and missile parts to the Houthis, but many shipments have been intercepted by US forces and Yemeni groups opposed to the Houthis.
Red Sea threat grows
The Houthis have also used Djibouti as a transit point for weapons and traded small arms with al-Shabaab in Somalia, according to UN reports cited by the Journal.
Since announcing a blockade on Saudi shipping on July 20, the group has struck seven vessels in the Red Sea and one in the Gulf of Aden, the report said. Four of the ships were Saudi-flagged.
The Houthis have also targeted Saudi energy infrastructure with missiles and drones, although Riyadh has reported no damage from those attacks.