Satellite images suggest that Israel’s strike on Iran appears to have damaged a key element of Tehran’s ballistic missile production and air defense sites, potentially exposing it to future attacks, military analysts told NBC News.

It remains unclear exactly how many locations were targeted, but analysts say Planet Labs satellite images suggest Saturday’s strikes appear to have hit Khojir, a sprawling missile site near Tehran, and Parchin, a massive military base that was part of the Iranian military base. defunct nuclear program.

Israel’s attack appears to have been more limited than some expected.

The rare direct strike — a response to Tehran’s barrage of more than 200 ballistic missiles on Oct. 1 — followed intense U.S. diplomacy to try to contain a hostile exchange between the two powers, raising fears of all-out war has sparked.

“We have hit hard Iran’s defense capabilities and its ability to produce missiles aimed at us,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a speech, adding that the attack had met all objectives.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the attack “should neither be downplayed nor exaggerated,” with a possible response from Tehran still subject to speculation.

Israel appears to have focused on Iran’s missile production process rather than storage sites – making it harder for Tehran to replenish its already dwindling supply of missiles.

It hit buildings where specialized fuel mixers produce propellant for ballistic missiles by mixing different chemicals, said Fabian Hinz, a defense and military analysis researcher at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London-based think tank. That is an easier and more effective target than the missiles themselves.

“It was a very clever attack, targeting all sensitive sites,” Hinz said in an interview.

“The missiles are spread all over the country, some are deep inside Iran and deep underground. Attacking them would be very difficult,” he said. “But if you hit the missile production facilities, you can’t produce them anymore.”