Iran’s Surging Missile ‘Shield’: The Cause for the Hurry. By Fred Fleitz in American Greatness.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during a March 2 press conference that Iran was producing over 100 missiles per month.

Rubio also told reporters that Iran was building up its arsenal of drones and missiles to create a missile “shield” that, within 12 to 18 months, would put Iran “in a place of immunity where the damage they can inflict on the region would be so high that no one can do anything about their nuclear program or their nuclear ambitions.”

Hudson Institute Research Fellow Zineb Riboua expressed the same assessment this week in an excellent Substack article in which she said Iran was on track to double its missile inventory from 2,000 to 4,000 missiles by 2027 and increase it to 10,000 by 2030. Riboua believes the increase in Iran’s missile and drone arsenal was due to stepped-up massive support from China of advanced missile electronic components and rocket fuel chemicals since the 12-Day War. …

Iran’s marked shift in recent years toward the offensive use of its missile arsenal — moving well beyond any plausible defensive posture — combined with its unprecedented direct strikes on Israel in 2024 and its large-scale attacks throughout the Middle East and beyond, constitutes a powerful justification for President Trump’s decision to launch Operation Epic Fury. At the same time, Iran’s aggressive buildup of missile and drone forces to create an impenetrable “missile shield” around its advancing nuclear weapons program underscores how narrowly timed the U.S. action was — and how President Trump’s decision may ensure that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon.