DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – An Israeli strike on Iran has reportedly caused damage to installations at a covert military site located southeast of the Iranian capital. This facility has previously been associated by experts with Tehran’s former nuclear weapons initiative, along with another base connected to its ballistic missile development. These findings were revealed through satellite imagery examined by The Associated Press on Sunday.
Several structures that were harmed are located within Iran’s Parchin military facility, an area where the International Atomic Energy Agency has raised concerns that Iran may have previously carried out high explosives tests potentially linked to nuclear weapon development. While Iran has consistently claimed that its nuclear initiatives are for peaceful purposes, the IAEA, along with Western intelligence agencies and other entities, contend that Tehran maintained a weapons program until 2003.
Additional damage was observed at the adjacent Khojir military base, where experts suspect there is a concealed network of underground tunnels and facilities for missile manufacturing.
Iran’s military has not confirmed any damage at Khojir or Parchin following the Israeli strike that occurred early Saturday. However, they did report that the attack resulted in the deaths of four Iranian soldiers involved in the nation’s air defense operations.
The Iranian delegation to the United Nations has yet to reply to a request for a statement. Meanwhile, the Israeli military chose not to provide any comments.
On Sunday, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, addressed a gathering and emphasized that the Israeli assault should neither be overstated nor minimized. He refrained from advocating for an immediate response. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remarked on the same day that Israel’s attacks had significantly impacted Iran and successfully met all their objectives.
Destruction affected three provinces in Iran.
The total number of locations affected by the Israeli assault is still unknown. Iran’s military has yet to provide any photographs showing the extent of the damage.
Officials in Iran have pinpointed the regions impacted as Ilam, Khuzestan, and Tehran provinces. Satellite imagery from Planet Labs PBC captured charred fields near the Tange Bijar natural gas production facility in Ilam province on Saturday; however, it remains uncertain whether this was connected to the recent attack. Ilam province is located along the border with Iraq in western Iran.
The most significant destruction was evident in images captured by Planet Labs of Parchin, located approximately 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of central Tehran, close to the Mamalu Dam. In these images, one building seemed completely obliterated, while several others showed signs of damage from the assault.
Satellite images revealed damage to at least two buildings in Khojir, located approximately 20 kilometers (12 miles) from central Tehran.
The damage to the bases was initially recognized by analysts such as Decker Eveleth from the Virginia-based think tank CNA, Joe Truzman from the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, former UN weapons inspector David Albright, and various other open-source specialists.
Foundation associated with Iran’s former nuclear arms initiative.
The Institute for Science and International Security, led by Albright, pinpointed the demolished structure at Parchin, situated against a mountainside, as Taleghan 2. According to an archive of Iranian nuclear information previously obtained by Israel, this facility was noted to contain a compact elongated chamber for high explosives and a flash X-ray system designed for analyzing small-scale explosive experiments.
According to a report from the institute in 2018, these tests might have involved using high explosives to compress a natural uranium core, thereby mimicking the process of starting a nuclear explosion.
In a statement shared on the social media platform X early Sunday, the institute noted that while it remains unclear if Iran utilized uranium at Taleghan 2, there is a possibility that it examined the compression of natural uranium hemispheres. This could account for its rapid and covert renovation activities after the IAEA’s request to inspect Parchin in 2011.
It is uncertain whether any equipment was present in the Taleghan 2 building on Saturday morning. The attack did not target Israel’s oil sector, nuclear enrichment facilities, or the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran.
Rafael Mariano Grossi, the head of the IAEA, stated on X that Iran’s nuclear facilities remain unaffected.
He emphasized that inspectors are secure and persist in their essential duties. I urge caution and moderation to avoid any actions that might endanger the safety and security of nuclear and other radioactive substances.
Destruction observed at sites associated with Iran’s ballistic missile initiative.
According to Eveleth, it is probable that additional structures demolished at Khojir and Parchin encompassed a warehouse along with other facilities where Iran utilized industrial mixers for the production of solid fuel essential for its vast stockpile of ballistic missiles.
Shortly after the attack on Saturday, the Israeli military released a statement indicating that it had aimed at missile production sites responsible for creating the missiles that Iran launched at Israel over the past year.
Eliminating these locations could significantly hinder Iran’s capacity to produce new ballistic missiles needed to restore its stockpile following the two assaults on Israel. The Revolutionary Guard, Iran’s paramilitary force responsible for the ballistic missile initiative, has remained quiet since the attack on Saturday.
In 2022, Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, who was the head of U.S. Central Command, testified before the U.S. Senate that Iran possessed more than 3,000 ballistic missiles in total, including shorter-range ones that cannot strike Israel. Since then, Iran has launched hundreds of these missiles during various attacks.
Since the recent assault, there have been no social media uploads featuring images or videos of missile debris or destruction in residential areas. This indicates that Israel’s strikes were significantly more precise compared to Iran’s ballistic missile attacks on Israel in April and October. During its offensive, Israel utilized missiles launched from aircraft.
Nonetheless, a factory in Shamsabad Industrial City, located just south of Tehran and near Imam Khomeini International Airport—Iran’s primary international entry point—seemed to have sustained damage. Videos circulating online of the affected structure matched the location of a company called TIECO, which promotes its production of advanced machinery utilized in Iran’s oil and gas sector.