Satellite footage of the Iranian military base where a large explosion occurred earlier this month shows extensive damage to a number of buildings within the compound. The footage was obtained by the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a Washington DC-based think tank.
Another explosion was reported Monday night in the town of Isfahan which is home to a key Iranian nuclear facility. The cause of the explosion and the target were unknown.
Two weeks ago, on November 12, an explosion rocked an Iranian military base near the town of Bid Kaneh, killing Major General Hassan Moghaddam, chief architect of the Islamic Republic’s ballistic missile program. Some media reports have claimed that the Israeli Mossad was behind the blast.
Speaking to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday,
head of the Military Intelligence Research Directorate Brig.-Gen. Itay
Brun said that the blast at the missile base could delay Teheran’s
development of long-range missiles.
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"The explosion at the site to develop surface-to-surface missiles could
stop or delay activities on that track and in that location, but we must
emphasize that Iran has other development tracks in addition to that
facility,” Brun said.
The ISIS satellite footage shows extensive damage at the Bid Kaneh base.
It said that the blast was caused as Iran was apparently performing a
procedure involving an engine for a new missile.
Compared to an earlier satellite image of the site, the image taken
after the blast on November 22 shows damages to most of the buildings in
the base and some completely destroyed. ISIS said that some of the
destruction could have been the result of subsequent controlled
demolition of buildings and the removal of debris.