OMM Newsroom
Iran appears to be carrying out significant construction near at least two major missile sites and repairing military bases damaged by months of US and Israeli air strikes, according to analysis of satellite images reported by the BBC.
Imagery taken in November shows excavation and new buildings at the Garmdareh military base in Karaj, near Tehran, and at the Shahroud base in northern Iran, analysts from British intelligence company “MAIAR” told BBC Verify.
At least 12 other military sites, including missile complexes and air bases, also appear to show signs of repair. At the Kermanshah missile base in western Iran, near the Iraqi border, new roofs have been built on damaged buildings. At the Parchin military complex east of Tehran, damaged buildings and debris have been cleared.
Parchin has been repaired repeatedly despite successive air strikes. Analysts said satellite images suggest substantial work has been completed at the Taleghan 2 facility there: damaged buildings have been levelled, while damage to an underground bunker has been repaired and reinforced with concrete.
Excavations and underground facilities
Jim Lamson, a former CIA analyst focused on Iran, said the excavations near Shahroud could be connected to missile production. With the nearby air base targeted multiple times in recent years, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) is probably seeking ways to move production facilities underground, he said.
A “MAIAR” analyst said Iran has “a pattern of moving infrastructure underground to protect them from further strikes”. Mark Mellett, a defence analyst and former head of the Irish military, said underground construction also makes it “harder for outside observers to assess the extent and operational status” of facilities.
At Karaj and Shahroud, the images appear to show substantial excavation. Several vehicles were visible at Karaj, and improvements also appear to have been made at a nearby air base.
Sam Lair, a research analyst at the “Foreign Policy Research Institute” (FPRI), which has examined developments at Iranian sites, said the images from Karaj appear to show “a new portal for an underground facility”.
Sean O’Connor, an analyst at intelligence firm “Janes”, said the construction was unlikely to be an effort to deceive foreign intelligence agencies, as such a project “would be costly and may achieve little”.
Repair work follows air strikes
Iranian forces have concentrated on small-scale repairs at military complexes across the country that have been heavily damaged by air strikes since the start of the US-Israeli war, the report said.
The developments come amid speculation in recent weeks that the US could resume attacks on Iran after the midterm elections held earlier this week. On Wednesday, Vice-President JD Vance said the war’s unpopularity among voters contributed to Republicans’ poor performance in the election, and may have cost his party control of the Senate “for the next 6 years”.
The White House has repeatedly said US-Israeli attacks have depleted Iran’s armed forces. US President Donald Trump described them as a “complete and total mess”.
A Pentagon spokesperson previously said the US had “destroyed up to 90% of Iran’s drone, ballistic missile, and naval industrial base” and “significantly degraded” the country’s ability to launch drone and missile attacks.
Iran says it retains large stockpiles of missiles. Footage broadcast on Iranian state television this week purported to show dozens of missiles at the entrance to an underground facility in southern Iran. In August, state television footage also purported to show Khordad surface-to-air missiles emerging from a tunnel near Bandar Abbas in the south.
A “MAIAR” analyst also identified new construction and excavation outside tunnel entrances near Qom, close to the Fordo underground uranium enrichment complex, which has been bombed multiple times by both the US and Israel.
Mark Cancian, a military analyst with the International Security Program at the “Center for Strategic and International Studies” (CSIS), said activity involving military assets would indicate that Tehran is preparing for further attacks by the US and Israel.
“The purpose is to better defend itself against future attacks,” he said. “It also indicates a priority on rebuilding military capability rather than rehabilitating the economy.”
