As of early April 2026, Iran’s energy infrastructure has suffered significant damage from US-Israeli strikes, including crucial hits on the South Pars gas field, which provides 70% of Iran’s gas.
Other damage includes attacks on refineries, petrochemical plants, and key logistics infrastructure, further crippling an energy sector already weakened by chronic shortages, inefficiencies, and mounting foreign-currency losses.
Targeted by Israeli strikes, damaging a facility essential for 90% of Iran’s domestic gas use and a major source of exports.
Numerous, unnamed refineries, oil fields, and petrochemical plants have been damaged by missile and drone strikes over a five-week period.
In response, Iran attacked regional energy sites, including Qatar’s Ras Laffan LNG facility, reducing its capacity by 17%.
The Strait of Hormuz has faced blockades, restricting, along with targeted strikes, Iran’s ability to export oil and petrochemicals.
Economic Pressure
The damage to critical facilities has led to a near-complete halt of shipping in certain areas. Some experts suggest damaged facilities could take months or years to fully restore.
The decline in petrochemical exports is reducing foreign currency inflows, exacerbating Iran’s domestic economic crisis, inflation, and energy shortages.
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Industrial Damages
Industrial infrastructure linked to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has suffered severe damage due to joint US-Israeli strikes as of early April 2026, targeting steel, petrochemical, and energy sectors crucial to the regime’s funding and military capabilities.
Two of Iran’s largest steel producers, Mobarakeh Steel in Isfahan and Khuzestan Steel near Ahvaz, were struck, with reports indicating they have halted production following extensive damage to steelmaking units, furnaces, and power units.
The Mahshahr Petrochemical Special Economic Zone was hit, damaging the Bandar Imam petrochemical complex, which produces LPG and polymers. Further attacks hit the Asaluyeh petrochemical complex, affecting facilities responsible for a significant portion of Iran’s petrochemical exports.
The Khondab heavy water production plant was reported by the IAEA as severely damaged and non-operational. Additionally, strikes damaged power generation units and gas supply infrastructure in the South Pars region.
Multiple oil storage sites, including the Aghdasieh and Shahran depots in Tehran and a depot in Karaj, were targeted.
US officials claimed that 90% of Iran’s weapons factories, including all factories producing Shahed one-way attack drones and their guidance systems, were struck.
Strategic Impact
Damage to the steel plants was severe enough to suspend operations for safety checks, with reconstruction for some parts projected to take up to a year.
The damage is expected to cause billions of dollars in losses to the Iranian economy, significantly reducing export revenues, which the US Treasury has previously identified as major revenue sources for the IRGC.
The strikes on industrial infrastructure are directly aimed at undermining the IRGC’s ability to produce weapons and fund its activities.
In retaliation, the IRGC claimed to have targeted industrial sites in the Gulf, including Bahraini and UAE aluminium facilities.
Military-Industrial Infrastructure Damages
Based on reports as of early April 2026, the military-industrial infrastructure of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has sustained severe, potentially long-term damage due to a coordinated air campaign.
Significant damage has been reported to key facilities, including Khojir, Shahroud, Parchin, and Hakimiyeh, with experts assessing that production of short- and medium-range ballistic missiles may be halted. More than 80% of missile facilities and drone factories producing Shahed one-way attack drones were reportedly hit.
Approximately 80% to 85% of Iran’s air defense components, including radars and battery sites, have been destroyed, leaving the country with severely limited air defenses.
Israeli and U.S. air strikes destroyed 3 S-400, 3 HQ-9B, 6 HQ-16, 6 SLC-2 counter-battery radar, 3 YLC-8B radar, 3 Type 305A radar, CM-302 and YJ-21E anti-ship missile. On top of the newly imported equipment from Russia and China, Israeli air strike destroyed 12 batteries of S-300PMU2, S-300PMU1 and BAVAR-373 missiles.
Reports indicate severe degradation of the IRGC’s naval capacity in the Persian Gulf, with estimates suggesting a massive reduction in operational capacity.
Strikes have heavily impacted IRGC-linked economic power centers, including major steel plants (Khuzestan Steel, Mobarakeh Steel) and key petrochemical facilities.
The campaign included a targeted effort to eliminate senior IRGC Aerospace and command officials.
The IRGC’s internal control infrastructure, including Basij bases and security compounds, has been significantly damaged.
Reports indicate that the damage is of such a scale that it “shattered” the defense industrial base, significantly hindering Iran’s ability to reconstitute its defense capabilities in the near future.
Nuclear Industrial Damage
Based on reports and satellite imagery analysis regarding the 2025–2026 conflict, the IRGC-linked nuclear industrial base in Iran has sustained extensive damage across its primary facilities, aiming to halt uranium enrichment and centrifuge production.
Esfahan Nuclear Complex: Considered a central hub for centrifuge manufacturing, uranium conversion, and storage, this site has sustained “extensive damage” through multiple attacks, including the destruction of surface production buildings and centrifuge manufacturing workshops.
Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP): This underground facility was targeted by U.S. bunker-buster bombs, causing severe damage, including destroying ventilation shafts and filling tunnel portal entrances with debris, effectively stalling operations.
Natanz Nuclear Facility: Sustained “significant fresh damage” in March 2026, targeting entrance buildings to the underground fuel enrichment plant, rendering it largely inaccessible.
Karaj Centrifuge Site: The TABA/TESA centrifuge manufacturing site was hit in 2021 and subsequently attacked, with reports suggesting that centrifuge manufacturing was moved to the heavily damaged Esfahan site, further complicating production.
Arak Heavy Water Plant: The Khondab heavy water production plant at Arak sustained “severe damage” and is non-operational, according to reports in March 2026.
Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant: Auxiliary buildings near Iran’s only operational nuclear power plant were damaged, though the main reactor did not suffer immediate, catastrophic damage.
Centrifuge manufacturing and assembly capability has been largely crippled, with reports indicating a significant reduction in the ability to produce new, advanced centrifuges.
The attacks, particularly at Esfahan, destroyed uranium processing, fuel rod production, and natural/depleted uranium metal production facilities.
Major steel plants linked to the IRGC, such as Mobarakeh Steel, were targeted to disrupt the supply chain feeding the nuclear program.
As of early 2026, the IAEA has not had full access to assess all damage, but reports indicate the Iranian nuclear program has suffered “enormous damage,” likely halting most 60% uranium enrichment activities. Iran is reportedly shifting to creating more covert, deeper underground facilities, but has not yet reconstituted the production capacity destroyed in 2025–2026.
Key deaths of scientists and engineers
Key deaths of Iranian IRGC nuclear and ballistic missile specialists, largely attributed to Israeli operations (particularly in 2020 and 2025), have targeted senior leadership to delay Iran’s weapons program. Key figures killed include Mohsen Fakhrizadeh (2020), and in 2025 strikes, Fereydoon Abbasi, Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi, and Saeed Borji.
Mohsen Fakhrizadeh (Nov 2020): Often described as the “father” of Iran’s military nuclear program (AMAD Plan) and a senior IRGC officer, he was assassinated in a remote-controlled machine gun attack.
Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani (June 2025): Former head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization and a leading nuclear engineer.
Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi (June 2025): A prominent theoretical physicist, university president, and key project supervisor for nuclear explosive testing (Subproject 3/30).
Saeed Borji (June 2025): A leading expert in high explosives and materials science for nuclear weapons.
Mansour Asgari (June 2025): A senior physics expert affiliated with nuclear research, killed in Israeli strikes.
Ali Bakhouei Katirimi (June 2025): A mechanical engineer specialising in centrifuge design.
Akbar Motallebzadeh (June 2025): A chemical engineering specialist focusing on nuclear applications.
Amir Hassan Fakhahi (June 2025): A physicist with expertise in nuclear modeling.
Ahmad Reza Zolfaghari Daryani (June 2025): A nuclear engineer involved in uranium enrichment and the fuel cycle.
Abdolhamid Minouchehr (June 2025): A reactor physicist.
Saeed Shamkhani (Mar 2026): A senior Iranian ballistic missile scientist confirmed dead following intensified actions.
The eliminated scientists were critical for advancing uranium enrichment, explosive research, and weaponization—integrating nuclear material into missiles.
The 2025 deaths involved over 9-14 top figures, described as a, ” decapitation campaign” intended to cause massive, lasting disruption to the IRGC-led program.
Tactics included car bombs, shootings, and sophisticated, remotely operated weapons.
Following Israeli precision airstrikes in March 2026, several key Iranian scientists and engineers involved in IRGC nuclear and ballistic missile programs were killed, significantly impacting their research capabilities. Targeted individuals included leading experts in high explosives, nuclear simulation, and missile development associated with the Shahid Karimi Group and SPND, according to reports from.
Key Scientists and Engineers Killed (2026 Strikes)
Based on reporting, several individuals linked to Iran’s nuclear and defense research were killed during the March 2026 strikes:
Dr. Ramin Hassan: Identified as a key scientist killed in a targeted strike.
Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani: A top nuclear scientist who had recently suggested Iran could develop tactical nuclear bombs.
Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi: A physicist and head of the Islamic Azad University, specialized in high explosives.
Sa’eed Borji: A materials engineering Ph.D. and expert on high explosives for nuclear weapons, closely associated with Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.
Akbar Motalebizadeh: A chemistry and SPND (Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research) official crucial to nuclear explosive device components.
Mansur Asgari: Head of SPND’s Research and Technology Department.
Hossein Zaki Dizaji: A nuclear engineer and professor at Imam Hossein University.
Other Key Personnel Reported Killed: Reports also mention the deaths of Seyed Amir Hossein Faghahi, Abdulhamid Manouchehr, and Ahmadreza Zolfaghari Dariani, who were part of the specialized nuclear staff.
The strikes were described as an effort to severely damage Iran’s nuclear, missile, and air defense capabilities.
Reports indicate that many of the killed individuals were veterans of the “Amad” program, specializing in neutron initiators, nuclear coding, and explosives.
Alongside scientists, top military leaders were killed, including IRGC commander Hossein Salami and key officials involved in Iran’s defence sector.
These operations are described as part of an ongoing effort to disrupt Iran’s nuclear advancements.
Based on reported, albeit sometimes unverified and volatile, intelligence regarding the intense military conflict initiated on February 28, 2026, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has suffered massive manpower casualties due to joint United States and Israeli air strikes.
Casualties to the IRGC as of April 2026
At least 24,770 members of the IRGC, Basij, and associated police forces have reportedly been killed since the start of the joint US-Israeli strikes on February 28, 2026.
Approximately 30,880 others have been injured in these operations, according to sources.
Numerous high-ranking Iranian leaders, including senior commanders in the IRGC Aerospace Force, Navy, and intelligence branches, have been killed.
Strikes have targeted IRGC command centers, missile/drone facilities, and intelligence sites across Iran. The IRGC has lost significant leadership figures, including their naval intelligence deputy chief, and high-ranking officials in the Tehran area.
In response, the IRGC has claimed significant casualties on US forces, including a claim that 650 US service members were killed or wounded in early March, though such figures are heavily contested.
The IRGC air force and navy destroyed
Based on reports following the six-week “Operation Epic Fury” ending in April 2026, U.S. officials claim Iran’s conventional military capability has been decimated, with over 90% of its navy sunk and its air force functionally neutralized. Over 13,000 targets were struck, including 150+ naval vessels and 80% of air defenses.
U.S. Central Command asserts that over 90% of Iran’s regular maritime fleet has been sunk or destroyed. This includes frigates, submarines, and specialized vessels.
Officials stated the air force has been “wiped out,” reducing operational flights to zero. CENTCOM reported destroying 80% of Iran’s air defense systems.
More than 450 ballistic missile facilities and 800 drone storage units were destroyed.
While traditional air and sea capabilities are severely crippled, reports suggest Iran still retains unconventional, smaller fast-attack vessels and can threaten shipping with mines.
Reports suggest a devastating blow to Iran’s military capacity, effectively halting its ability to project power, but some analytical sources emphasize that the ability to launch asymmetrical attacks persists.
© 2026, GDC. © GDC and www.globaldefensecorp.com. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to www.globaldefensecorp.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
