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Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said Saturday that it has moved its missile and drone production lines underground, as new satellite images show Tehran rebuilding military sites hit by US and Israeli strikes.
Getting into it: IRGC spokesperson Hossein Mohebbi told reporters in Tehran that the move lets Iran keep building missiles even under heavy bombing, and said the Guard is set to unveil an “underground missile city.” He also said limits on the range of Iran’s missiles have been lifted, echoing Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei’s warning that Iran’s response to any new attack would have “no geographical limits.”
Satellite images from November reviewed by British intelligence firm MAIAR show digging and new construction at two bases, Garmdareh in Karaj outside Tehran and Shahroud in the north, including what one analyst described as a new entrance to an underground facility, along with repair work at a dozen more missile and air bases.
A former CIA analyst said the Shahroud work may be for building missiles, and analysts also spotted fresh digging at tunnel openings by the Fordo nuclear site. The Pentagon has previously claimed it wiped out as much as 90% of Iran’s drone, ballistic missile and naval manufacturing, but Iranian state TV aired footage this week it says shows rows of missiles lined up outside a tunnel in the south of the country.
This all comes as Qatar is pushing Iran to let UN nuclear inspectors visit its bombed nuclear sites, under a proposal that would have the US immediately lift its naval blockade and release part of about $8 billion in frozen Iranian assets, with Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz the next day through a route it worked out with Oman.
Iran has resisted letting inspectors back in, saying it fears what they gather could be passed to the US and Israel to help pick targets, while Trump weighs whether to resume strikes.
