Satellite images show the destruction caused by an Israeli attack on two secret Iranian military bases

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – An Israeli attack on Iran damaged facilities at a secret military base southeast of Iran’s capital that experts have in the past linked to Tehran’s one-time nuclear weapons program, as well as at another base linked to its ballistic missile program, according to an analysis satellite imagery Sunday on the Associated Press.

Some of the damaged buildings were located at Iran’s Parchin military base, where the International Atomic Energy Agency suspects Iran has conducted tests of explosives capable of triggering a nuclear weapon in the past. Iran has long insisted that its nuclear program is peaceful, although the IAEA, Western intelligence agencies and other sources say Tehran had an active weapons program until 2003.

Other destruction can be seen at the nearby Khojir military base, which analysts believe hides a system of underground tunnels and missile production sites.

Iran’s military did not claim damage in Khojir or Parchin from the Israeli attack early Saturday, although it said four Iranian soldiers working in the country’s air defense systems were killed in the attack.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did the Israeli military.

However, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told the crowd on Sunday that the Israeli attack “should not be exaggerated or downplayed,” while refraining from calling for an immediate retaliatory strike. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu separately said on Sunday that the Israeli strikes “seriously hurt” Iran and that the shelling “achieved all its objectives.”

The damage was spread over three Iranian provinces

It is unclear how many places in total were targeted by the Israeli attack. So far, the Iranian military has not released any photos of the damage.

Iranian officials identified the affected areas as Ilam, Khuzestan and Tehran provinces. On Saturday, satellite images from Planet Labs PBC showed burned fields around Iran’s Tange Bijar natural gas facility in Ilam province, although it was not immediately clear whether this was related to the attack. Ilam Province lies on the Iran-Iraq border in western Iran.

The most telling destruction can be seen in Planet Labs’ images of Parchin, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of central Tehran near the Mamalu Dam. There, one structure appeared to be completely destroyed, while others appeared to be damaged by the attack.

In Khojir, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from central Tehran, satellite images show damage to at least two structures.

Analysts including Decker Eveleth of Virginia-based think tank CNA, Joe Truzman of the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies and former U.N. weapons inspector David Albright, as well as other open source experts, first identified the base damage. The locations of both bases match videos obtained by the AP showing Iranian air defense systems shelling the area early Saturday.

A base linked to Iran’s former nuclear weapons program

The Albright Institute for Science and International Security in Parchin identified the destroyed building on the mountainside as “Taleghan 2”. It said an archive of Iranian nuclear data previously seized by Israel identified the building as housing “a smaller, elongated explosives chamber and a flash X-ray system for examining small-scale explosives tests.”

“Such tests could involve high-impact explosives compressing a natural uranium core, simulating the initiation of a nuclear explosive,” the institute’s 2018 report said.

In a message posted on social media platform for access to Parchin in 2011.”

It is unclear what equipment would have been in the “Taleghan 2” building early Saturday morning. There were no Israeli attacks on Iran’s oil industry, its nuclear enrichment facilities, or the Bushehr nuclear power plant during the attack.

Rafael Mariano Grossi, who heads the IAEA, confirmed this on Program X, stating that “Iran’s nuclear facilities were not affected.”

“Inspectors are safe and continuing their crucial work,” he added. “I call for caution and restraint in actions that could threaten the security of nuclear and other radioactive materials.”

Damage visible at facilities of Iran’s ballistic missile program

Eveleth said other buildings destroyed in Khojir and Parchin likely included a warehouse and other buildings where Iran used industrial mixers to produce solid fuel needed for its vast arsenal of ballistic missiles.

In a statement issued immediately after Saturday’s attack, the Israeli military said it was targeting “missile factories that produced the rockets that Iran has fired at the State of Israel over the past year.”

Destroying such sites could significantly disrupt Iran’s ability to produce new ballistic missiles to replenish its arsenal after the two attacks on Israel. Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which oversees Iran’s ballistic missile program, has been silent since Saturday’s attack.

Iran’s overall ballistic missile arsenal, which includes shorter-range missiles that cannot reach Israel, was estimated at “more than 3,000” by Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, then commander of the U.S. military’s Central Command, in testimony before the U.S. Senate in 2022. . Since then, Iran has fired hundreds of missiles in a series of attacks.

No videos or photos were posted on social media showing rocket parts or destruction in civilian neighborhoods after the recent attack, suggesting that the Israeli strikes were much more thorough than Iran’s ballistic missile strikes targeting Israel in April and October. Israel relied on aircraft-launched rockets during its attack.

However, one factory appeared to be hit in Shamsabad Industrial City, south of Tehran and near Imam Khomeini International Airport, the country’s main gateway to the outside world. Online videos showing the damaged building matched the address of a company known as TIECO, which advertises itself as building advanced machinery used in Iran’s oil and gas industry.

TIECO officials asked the AP to write a letter to the company before answering questions. The company did not immediately respond to the letter sent to it.