Secret Iranian missile storage site exposed by anti-regime group amid rising regional tensions

Iran’s leading dissident group, the People’s Mojahedin of Iran (MEK), provided Fox News Digital with information about a secret website where Islamic Republic of Iran allegedly stores and prepares missiles to use against enemies, sells to allies, and delivers to its proxies.

The camp, known as the Garrison of Shahid (Martyr) Soltani, located in a mountainous region outside the town of Eshtehard, northwest of Tehran in Alborz province, is heavily guarded and surrounded by two rows of barbed wire. It allegedly saw increased activity in the second half of 2024, with the MEK noting that “more than ten trailers carrying missile parts” entered the camp in July.

According to the MEK, weapons stored at the site include Shahab-3, Qiam, Fateh and Fath series ballistic missiles.

FROM Ceasefire Pushes to Boots on the Ground in Israel: US Appears to Agree to Engage in Escalating War

Satellite images show the Shahid Soltani garrison near the city of Eshtehard, Iran, including large warehouses (left), a cluster of smaller buildings (right) and an underground tunnel with two openings (center). (NCRI/MEK)

Iran expert Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said that after the April “layered attack” on Israel that involved some 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, the Islamic regime “got rid of the low and slow-flying ” and “doubled measures on ballistic weapons.” On October 1, Iran fired over 180 ballistic missiles into Israeli airspace.

Taleblu noted that Iran used the same liquid fuel systems used in the April attack, namely the Emad and Ghadr ballistic missiles, which are an evolution of the Shahab-3. He said the October attack also used the solid-fuel Kheibar Shekan and reportedly even the Fattah-1 hypersonic ballistic missile. An Israel Defense Forces spokesman also confirmed to Fox News Digital that Iran’s recent attacks used Fattah-1 and Fattah-2 hypersonic ballistic missiles.

The Shahid Soltani garrison is located in a remote mountainous area near Eshtehard, Iran. (NCRI/MEK)

During the larger attack on Israel on October 1 two American destroyers were captured about a dozen Iranian missiles. Neither the Pentagon nor the Defense Intelligence Agency responded to Fox News Digital’s questions about whether U.S. assets have been targeted by various Iranian ballistic missiles allegedly located at the Eshtehard facility, or whether the United States has intercepted any of those missiles in the region.

To protect Israel from further Iranian ballistic missile attacks, the United States sent a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system to Tel Aviv, along with a cadre of 100 American soldiers to operate the system. Taleblu says THAAD “will act as a critical improvement to Israel’s existing, already very well-layered missile defense,” although Taleblu says that with just 48 interceptors, THAAD’s long-term viability is “questionable.”

IRAN’S NATIONAL AIRPLANE ACCUSED OF FLYING WEAPONS TO BEIRUT AIRPORT THROUGH HEZBOLLAH Terrorism: REPORT

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Air Force Commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh delivers a speech during Iran’s presentation of its first hypersonic ballistic missile, Fattah, during an event in Tehran, June 6, 2023. (Sepah News/handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

It is not known whether ballistic missiles aimed at Israel were stored or prepared at the Shahid Soltani garrison. It is also unknown whether the short-range ballistic missiles that Iran supplied to Russia, for which Iran was sanctioned by the US Department of Treasury and State, were kept on site.

MEK provided satellite images showing two distinct parts of the Shahid Soltani garrison. The above-ground warehouse facilities “were built at least 15 years ago” and include some single-story warehouses and one three-story warehouse, which offer a total of 6,500 m2 of warehouse space. About 10 buildings in another segment of the garrison offer an additional 3,000 square meters of space. Underground tunnels built in the area between 2017 and 2021 offer more storage space.

According to the report, the camp is under the responsibility of the Al-Ghadir Missile Command, part of the Air and Space Forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. IRGC Brig. The last known commander of this place was General Partovi. MEK stated that Col. Mohammad Reza Hakimzadeh and Col. Barati of the IRGC’s Eshtehard Corps are responsible for administrative matters related to the camp.

ISRAEL FORCES INTERCEPT DOCUMENTS REVEALING HAMAS PLAN FOR MORE COMPLICATED ATTACKS: REPORT

The report shows three single-story warehouses, one three-story warehouse and a fifth unlabeled warehouse providing a total of 6,500 square meters of storage space in one segment of the Shahid Soltani Garrison. (MEK/NCRI)

In 2010 it was Al-Ghadir Missile Command sanctioned by the US. as well as by the EU. Commanders of Al-Ghadir Missile Command, including Mahmoud Bagheri Kazemabad and Mohammad Agha Jafari, were also placed under US sanctions.

Ballistic missiles probably and certainly of Iranian origin have been targeted by US forces before. Iran-backed militias fired unknown short-range ballistic missile at Al Asad Air Base on November 21, 2023, resulting in eight people being injured and infrastructure being damaged.

On January 8, 2020, Iran fired 27 theater ballistic missiles towards Al Asad Air Base. According to a medical study on the effects of the attack, 11 of them, Fateh and Qiam missiles, landed at the American base. The rocket impacts resulted in approximately 35 cases of traumatic brain injury or concussion.

Jerusalem residents take shelter during Iranian missile fire, October 1, 2024. (Yoav Dudkevitch/TPS-IL)

Taleblu noted that countering Iran’s ballistic missile program will require several lines of effort. Economically and politically, they hijack Iran’s trade with China, attacking Iran’s domestic and foreign supply chain “throughout the ballistic life cycle” and subjecting a rotating array of people involved in its ballistic missile program to travel bans and sanctions. Combined with covert or kinetic operations, said efforts “could really handcuff this missile program,” Taleblu explained.

Taleblu stated the importance of maintaining advanced missile defense systems to deter Iranian weapons, strengthen U.S. bases and ensure that “the elements of deterrence through punishment are not only present, but also understood and credible.”

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

A Fateh-110 missile is shown at an undisclosed location in Tehran, Iran, around 2010. (Vahid Reza Alaei/Iran Ministry of Defense via AP/File)

Alireza Jafarzadeh, deputy director of the Iran office of the National Council of Resistance in Washington, shared a different approach with Fox News Digital. He explained that “true democracy in Iran and peace and tranquility in the region depend on the fall of the regime, and the responsibility rests with the Iranian people and their organized resistance.”

“Survival of the Iranian regime is based on exporting terrorism and militancy, while brutally oppressing the Iranian people,” Jafarzadeh said. Noting that “decades of concessions have emboldened this dictatorship,” he called for the enforcement of “the IRGC and the Ministry of Intelligence and Security’s terrorist designation” and recommended that “supporting Iranian youth and resistance units in confronting the IRGC are key steps they must take United States and European Nations.”