Secretive Iranian military bases damaged in Israeli attack, satellite image shows

Israeli attack on Iran damages secretive military bases linked to nuclear and missile programs, experts say.

An Israeli attack on Iran damaged facilities at a secretive military base southeast of the Iranian capital that experts in the past have linked to Tehran's onetime nuclear weapons program and at another base tied to its ballistic missile program, satellite photos analyzed Sunday (October 27, 2024) by The Associated Press show.

Some of the buildings damaged sat in Iran's Parchin military base, where the International Atomic Energy Agency suspects Iran in the past conducted tests of high explosives that could trigger a nuclear weapon. Iran long has insisted its nuclear program is peaceful, though the IAEA, Western intelligence agencies and others say Tehran had an active weapons program up until 2003.

The other damage could be seen at the nearby Khojir military base, which analysts believe hides an underground tunnel system and missile production sites.

Iran's military has not acknowledged damage at either Khojir or Parchin from Israel's attack early Saturday (October 26, 2024), though it has said the assault killed four Iranian soldiers working in the country's air defence systems. Iran announced Sunday (October 27, 2024) a civilian also had been killed, but provided no details.

Iran's mission to the United Nations did not respond to a request for comment. The Israeli military declined to comment.

However, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday (October 27, 2024) told an audience that the Israeli attack “should not be exaggerated nor downplayed,” while stopping short of calling for an immediate retaliatory strike. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu separately said Sunday (October 27, 2024) that Israel’s strikes “severely harmed” Iran and that the barrage “achieved all its goals."

It remains unclear how many sites in total were targeted in the Israeli attack. There have been no images of damage so far released by Iran's military.