Iran reveals secret underground 'missile city'

Iran's Revolutionary Guards on March 15 inaugurated a new underground facility used to store missiles. Photo: Sepahnews

The above source quoted General Hossein Salami - commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran on March 15, affirming that cruise missiles and ballistic missiles will add more power to its naval force.

The television news report showed dozens of missiles in a sealed space that looked like an underground corridor. The location of the facility was not mentioned, nor was the number of missiles stored there.

Since 2011, Iran has boasted of underground facilities scattered across the country as well as along its southern coast near the strategic Strait of Hormuz.

Iran claims to possess missiles capable of traveling 2,000 km, putting much of the Middle East, including Israel, within range.

The United States and its Western allies view Iran's missile program as a threat, alongside its nuclear program - especially after Tehran gradually broke its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers in response to the Trump administration's withdrawal from the deal in 2018.

In late July, the IRGC launched ballistic missiles from underground, in an exercise that included a simulated US aircraft carrier in the Strait of Hormuz, highlighting the country's network of secret missile sites.

Missiles at an underground storage facility in Iran. Photo: Sepahnews

Since Iran's bloody war with Iraq in the 1980s, when both countries launched missiles at each other's cities, Iran has viewed developing its ballistic missile program as a deterrent, especially since a United Nations arms embargo prohibits it from buying high-tech weapons systems.

Underground tunnels help protect those weapons, which include liquid-fueled missiles that can only be refueled for short periods of time./.