A series of Tweets and satellite photos by IntelliTimes, indicates that the explosion that rocked Tehran, Iran, just after midnight on Friday morning was not at the Parchin military base, as many initially assumed, but at the nearby Hemmat Missile Industrial Complex, which is in the Khojir region, near Tehran.
:We estimate that tonight’s blast in eastern Tehran occurred in a complex in area that belonging to Hemmat Missile Industries Factory of Iran’s Aerospace Industries Organization responsible for Iran’s ballistic missile program, including the Shahab-3 pic.twitter.com/gQOw0McJFz
— אינטלי טיימס – בלוג המודיעין של ישראל (@IntelliTimes)
This facility is responsible for Iran’s development of precision surface-to-surface missiles, and in assisting Hezbollah with their precision missile development program, in Lebanon and Syria. It is also where Iran assembles big parts for their newer missiles, along with some R&D.
The Hemmat complex has underground/in-mountain installations and a group of widely spaced mini-complexes spoking off the access roads.
There were initially some questions whether the video show by Iranian TV of some gas containers was the site of the actual explosion. Some analysts believed the size of the explosion was too big for those holding tanks, and they would have displayed far more damage than they did.
The latest Worldview satellite photos released by Maxar (not shown) shows a potential correlation between the structure over the gas tanks and the damaged structure as shown by FARS.
The small building on the bottom-right in this “before” satellite image in the tweet, is the structure where the explosion happened. In the latest Maxar satellite images, the building is clearly destroyed, and the area around it is blackened.
: We Can Confirm By Satellite that the blast in eastern Tehran occurred in a complex in that belonging to Hemmat Missile Industries Factory of Iran’s AIO that her Ext’ Unit also responsible for establishing SSM Precision Missile Factories in and Lebanon pic.twitter.com/HQ6Ou28alH
— אינטלי טיימס – בלוג המודיעין של ישראל (@IntelliTimes)
What is intriguing is that there are additional before and after satellite photos released by the European Commission Sentinel-2 satellite, of what appears to show a far more extensive damaged half-a-kilometer zone, in what appears to be the area adjacent to the structure.
it appears that Iranian TV only showed where the fire began, or a smaller location where there was a fire. While the fire or explosion actually spread to the much larger damaged area nearby, as shown by the Sentinel satellite image.
IntelliTimes hints that a possible connection between the explosion on Khojir and the explosion at Shiraz is they may both be sites involved in the precision missile production.
: It may be accidental, but it is what we found that could connect the two blast arenas in and and the possibility that this was a cyber-attack aimed to temporarily disabling power sources of facilities involved in “Missile Precision Project”. pic.twitter.com/G0QglHigWp
— אינטלי טיימס – בלוג המודיעין של ישראל (@IntelliTimes)
— אינטלי טיימס – בלוג המודיעין של ישראל (@IntelliTimes)
This article has been updated based on information shown in new satellite photos by the Maxar Worldview satellite and the Sentinel-2 satellite.