Satellite Images Show Damage at Tehran ‘Missile’ Site

Media renews speculation of site being a missile factory

Israeli satellite images are emerging on the site in Tehran which earlier this week was reported to have had an explosion. Iran reported it was Research and Self-Sufficiency site operated by the Revolutionary Guard Corps. Two were reported killed in the blast.

What happened isn’t clear, though as usual it was seen as possibly another Israeli sabotage attack. On top of that, media reports are spinning the site as being a possible “missile factory.”

This accusation is based on the Treasury Department saying in 2017 that the research and self-sufficency organization was researching missiles. It isn’t clear how big this organization is, or how many sites they have. Iran was keen to become less reliant on military imports.

Israeli sabotage of a site that could be spun as maybe something is in keeping with their policy in Iran in recent years, which has been to carry out provocative actions attacking Iran, trying to provoke a retaliation that could be used to escalate into a bigger confrontation, and one that they might be able to drag the US into.

That narrative works a lot better for Israel if the site is something to do with missiles than if it’s just some random industrial research site. Iran hasn’t directly blamed Israel for the matter so far, which might preclude any sort of escalation.

In that regard, Israel’s policy of not commenting on its attacks might be counterproductive, as they can’t provoke retaliation if no one knows they were responsible.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.