Israeli airstrikes targeted and apparently struck an Iranian military base tied to a former nuclear weapons program and another that’s involved in manufacturing missiles, according to reports Sunday.
Satellite images taken after the attacks early Saturday reportedly show damage to buildings at the bases in Parchin and Khojir, outside the capital of Tehran.
One of the buildings that Israeli jets bombed in Parchin is suspected to have been used to test high explosives as part of a nuclear weapons program that was shut down in 2003, according to the Associated Press.
It’s unclear what equipment, if any, remained in the destroyed building, known as Taleghan 2, AP said.
Taleghan 2 appears to have been destroyed, as were the other three buildings associated with rocket motor production nearby and secured separately. 1/ https://t.co/nzhM5wWEfL
— Inst for Science (@TheGoodISIS) October 27, 2024
But even if nothing was inside, the building had “intrinsic value” because it was built against a hillside that’s “advantageous for activities involving high explosives or projectile impact studies,” the Institute for Science and International Security think tank said on social media.
At Khojir, Israel destroyed two buildings suspected of being used to mix solid fuel for ballistic missiles, Reuters said, citing Decker Eveleth, an associate research analyst the CNA military think tank.
Eveleth told Reuters that the attack may have “significantly hampered Iran’s ability to mass produce missiles.”
In a statement Saturday, Israel’s military said it sent three waves of jets to strike “manufacturing facilities used to produce the missiles that Iran fired at the state of Israel over the last year.”
The move marked Israel’s anticipated retaliation for the barrage of about 200 missiles that Iran launched against Israel on Oct. 1 in response to the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut last month.
Iran’s military acknowledged “limited damage” from the Israeli attack without mentioning Parchin or Khojir.
Iran also said four soldiers assigned to the country’s air defense systems were killed.
President Joe Biden on Saturday said that he’d been briefed by intelligence officials and that it appeared Israel “didn’t hit anything other than military targets.”
“My hope is this is the end,” he said.
