Sirens sounded across Israel early on Monday morning. They then sounded again at around 10:30 a.m. – seven hours after the first round of alarms.
The air raid sirens at 10:30 a.m. continued to sound for at least another 20 minutes, indicating that several salvos of missiles were sent to target different areas of the country.
Reports in Iran claimed that one missile was fired early in the morning by the Houthis in Yemen. This claim appeared to contradict the assertions by the IDF that the sirens had sounded “following the identification of missiles launched from Iran.”
The reports regarding the first early morning wave of sirens indicated that only one missile had been fired, which is unusual for Iran because, in the past, it had fired waves of missiles at once.
This raises questions about potential changes in Iran’s tactics. The Islamic Republic may be seeking to fire smaller volleys of missiles and coordinate with the Houthis in Yemen.
The Houthis often target Israel with only one missile when they fire at it. They would usually fire one missile every day or every other day when they were attacking Israel in 2024 and also in March and April 2025.
Iran has backed the Houthis and likely helped design their missile program, helping them hide their rockets. Using one missile on launchers hidden in the mountains is a tactic that appears to have worked for the Houthis.
Although the missiles from Yemen did not get through Israel’s air defenses, they often caused a large part of Israel to take shelter.
Iran may believe that this tactic is successful. This is especially true if Tehran thinks it can get a deal with the US or that America will not carry out more strikes on Iran.
The US had carried out strikes on the Houthis but then chose to end those strikes once the Houthis agreed not to attack shipping.
Iran may be taking a gamble, thinking that a long, slow war of attrition with Israel could benefit it. Iran knows it cannot defeat Israel and that Israel has free rein over Iran’s skies.
What do the new tactics reveal?
However, Tehran is a large country, and it may be assumed that an endless war is not in Israel’s interests. The question is what Iran’s new tactics and strategy may reveal about Iran’s regime and its belief in what comes next.
The Islamic Republic has been confused, feeling weakened by the Israeli strikes.
It has been on the defensive and does not know what to do next. Yet, that sense of shock that emerged in Iran since the June 13 attacks and the US attacks on Sunday morning will begin to change over time.
Tehran will decide if it wants to continue the war or find an accommodation. Considering the significant investment over the last decades in attacks on Israel, it will be hard for Iran to climb down now.