MANUFACTURING HIT? A missile expert said that it was unclear whether Iranian missile production had been crippled or just damaged by the Israeli airstrikes
AP, DUBAI, United Arab Emirates
Israel’s attack on Iran likely damaged a base run by the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard that builds ballistic missiles and launches rockets as part of its own space program, satellite images analyzed by The Associated Press on Tuesday showed.
The damage at the base in Shahroud raises new questions about Israel’s attack early on Saturday, particularly as it took place in an area previously unacknowledged by Tehran and involved the Revolutionary Guard, which has so far has remained silent about any possible damage it sustained from the assault.
Iran has only identified Israeli attacks as taking place in Ilam, Khuzestan and Tehran provinces — not in rural Semnan province, where the base is.
A satellite photograph shows a damaged building at the Shahroud Space Center in Iran’s Semnan Province on Tuesday.
Photo: AP
It also potentially further restrains the Revolutionary Guard’s ability to manufacture the solid-fuel ballistic missiles it needs to stockpile as a deterrent against Israel.
Tehran long has relied on that arsenal, as it cannot purchase the advanced Western weapons that Israel and Tehran’s Gulf Arab neighbors have armed themselves with, particularly from the US.
Satellite photographs earlier analyzed by the AP of two military bases near Tehran also targeted by Israel showed that sites there that Iran uses in its ballistic missile manufacturing have been destroyed, further squeezing its program.
“We don’t know if Iranian production has been crippled as some people are saying or just damaged,” said Fabian Hinz, a missile expert and research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies who studies Iran. “We’ve seen enough imagery to show there’s an impact.”
Iran’s mission to the UN did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Israeli military declined to answer questions from the AP, but sent a previous statement acknowledging it targeted “missile manufacturing facilities” in the attack.
Images show major building at the Shahroud base destroyed.
High-resolution satellite images from Planet Labs PBC taken for and analyzed by the AP showed the damage at the Revolutionary Guard’s Shahroud Space Center in Semnan, about 370km northeast of the Iranian capital, Tehran.
Semnan also hosts the Imam Khomeini Space Center, which is used by Iran’s civilian space program.
The images showed a central, major building at the Shahroud Space Center had been destroyed, the shadow of its still-standing frame seen in the image taken on Tuesday morning. Vehicles could be seen gathered around the site, likely from officials inspecting the damage, with more vehicles than normal parked at the site’s main gate nearby.
Three small buildings just to the south of the main structure also appeared to be damaged.
Iran has been constructing new buildings at the base in the past few months.
Another hangar to the northeast of the main building also appeared to have been damaged.
Iran has not acknowledged any attack at Shahroud.
However, given the damage done to multiple structures, it suggested the Israeli attack included pinpoint strikes on the base.
Low-resolution images since the attack showed signs of damage at the site not seen before the assault — further pointing to Israeli missile strikes as being the culprit.
“We can’t 100 percent exclude the possibility it’s something else, but it’s almost certain this building got damaged because of an Israeli attack,” Hinz said.
Given that the large building had been surrounded by earthen berms, that suggests it handled high explosives, said Hinz, who long has studied the site.
That central site likely deals with solid propellant mixing and casting operations, he added.
Large boxes next to the building likely are missile motor crates as well, Hinz said.
Their sizes suggest they could be used for Iran’s Kheibar Shekan ballistic missile and the Fattah 1, a missile that Iran has claimed is able to reach Mach 15.
Both have been used in Iran’s attacks on Israel during the Israel-Hamas war and the later ground invasion of Lebanon.
