Iran displays underground missile base

Iranian state television broadcast unprecedented footage Wednesday of a deep underground tunnel packed with missiles and launcher units, which officials said could be used if “enemies make a mistake”. According to Fars, a number of ballistic missiles were shown in the underground tunnel including a model with a range of 2,000 kilometers.

Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the Guard’s aerospace branch, boasted that the facility is the “tip of the iceberg” of the Guard’s military might.

The commander seemed to suggest the show of strength was in response to Western powers, especially the USA, which despite the nuclear deal, have said options against Iran, including the military one, remain on the table.

The first-ever media images of a subterrannean Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp rocket base comes only three days after Iran tested a new precision-guided ballistic missile.

A total of 220 of Iran’s 290 lawmakers praised the missile test on Wednesday, announcing their full support of measures that “strengthen Iran’s defense capabilities”.

The ban on Iranian ballistic missile tests will be lifted when the deal is finally implemented, but a Security Council resolution tied to the deal calls upon Iran to avoid doing work on ballistic missiles that can carry nuclear warheads for a period up to eight years.

The underground missile bases limit the ability of spy satellites to pinpoint the location of Iranian arms caches. “The Islamic republic’s long-range missile bases are stationed and ready under the high mountains in all the country’s provinces and cities”, Hajizadeh said, according to a translation from AFP.

“We’ll obviously raise this at the UNSC as we have done in previous launches”, State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters, noting the test appeared to be a violation of United Nations Security resolution 1929.

“We have seen Iran nearly serially violate the worldwide community’s concerns about their ballistic missile program”, Earnest said.