Iran appears to be carrying out major construction work near at least two of its main missile sites, as well as repairs to bases damaged during months of US and Israeli airstrikes, according to an analysis of satellite images.
Signs of excavations and new construction can be seen in images taken in November at the Garmdareh military base, in Karaj, near Tehran, and at the Shahroud base, in the north of the country, analysts from the British intelligence company MAIAR, who reviewed the photographs, told BBC Verify.
At least 12 other military sites, including missile complexes and air bases, appear to show signs of repair.
Roofs have been rebuilt on destroyed buildings at the Kermanshah missile base in western Iran, near the border with Iraq.
Damaged buildings have also been cleared and rubble removed from the Parchín military complex, which has been repeatedly repaired despite a succession of airstrikes, east of the capital.
The excavations near Shahroud could be related to missile production, according to Jim Lamson, a former CIA analyst specializing in Iran.
Lamson said that since the nearby Shahroud air base has been repeatedly targeted in recent years, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is likely to look for a way to move its missile production facilities to underground locations.
Protect yourself underground
A MAIAR analyst noted that Iran has "a pattern of moving infrastructure underground to protect itself from future attacks."
End of Most read
All the news you need is on BBC World Service
Download it here
End of Ad app
Mark Mellett, a defense analyst and former head of Ireland's Army, said building underground facilities has the added advantage of making it difficult for "external observers to assess their extent and operational status."
In recent weeks, speculation has increased about the possibility that the United States will resume attacks against Iran after the midterm elections, held on November 3.
However, on Wednesday, Vice President JD Vance attributed Republicans' poor performance in this week's elections to the war's unpopularity among voters, saying it could have cost his party control of the Senate "for the next six years."
At several bases across the country, Iranian forces focused on carrying out small-scale repairs on compounds that have been severely damaged by airstrikes since the start of the US-Israel war.
According to analysts, satellite images appear to show that major construction work has been completed at the Taleghan 2 facility in the Parchín military complex, where damaged buildings have been demolished and damage to an underground bunker has been repaired and reinforced with concrete.
In Karaj and Shahroud, satellite images appear to show significant excavations. In Karaj, several vehicles were observed on satellite images and improvements appear to have been made to the nearby air base.
The Karaj images appear to show "a new portal to an underground facility," says Sam Lair, a research analyst at the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI), a research center that has extensively examined developments at the Iranian facilities.
The construction work is unlikely to be part of an attempt to deceive foreign intelligence agencies, said Sean O'Connor, an analyst at intelligence firm Janes.
He added that such a project "would be expensive and probably not achieve much."
"A complete and utter disaster"
These reparations come after repeated assurances from the White House that US and Israeli attacks have weakened the Iranian military, which US President Donald Trump dismissed as "a complete and utter disaster."
A Pentagon spokesperson previously stated that the United States had "destroyed up to 90% of Iran's naval, ballistic missile and drone industrial base" and had "significantly degraded" the country's ability to launch drone and missile attacks.
But Iran says it retains large missile arsenals. Images broadcast this week on state television purportedly showed dozens of missiles at the entrance to an underground facility in southern Iran.
In August, state television also said to show Khordad surface-to-air missiles emerging from a tunnel near the southern city of Bandar Abbas.
A MAIAR analyst also identified new construction and excavations in the vicinity of the tunnel entrances near the city of Qom, close to the Fordo underground uranium enrichment complex, which has been repeatedly bombed by both the United States and Israel.
Activity related to military assets would show that Tehran is preparing for new attacks by the United States and Israel, said Mark Cancian, a military analyst with the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
"The goal is to better defend against future attacks," he said. "It also indicates that rebuilding military capacity is prioritized over rehabilitating the economy."
This article was originally written in English and we used an artificial intelligence tool to translate it. A BBC journalist reviewed the text before publication. Learn more about how we use AI.
Discover more
Video
End of Video
