A photo showing some of the arsenal in the underground bases.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has unveiled two underground bases for attack drones and missiles, as nuclear talks with world power have reached a critical stage.
The “two cities of missiles and drones” were inaugurated on Saturday concurrent with the visit of International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi to Tehran and the final days of the Vienna talks to revive the 2015 nuclear deal known as JCPOA.
According to Sepah News, IRGC’s information website, the bases are constructed in the form of tunnels (video) in the heart of high mountains and house ground-to-ground missile systems and attack drones, including drones with a range of 2,000 kilometers, two-missile launch platforms and multi-drone launch platforms. The locations of the bases are not disclosed.
The commander IRGC’s Aerospace Force, Brigadier General Amir-Ali Hajizadeh, emphasized the long range of the drones and the capacity of these bases during a ceremony, saying that “We can simultaneously launch 60 UAVs from the drone base” and “we can hit any hostile target.”
Hajizadeh added, “The power of our missile fire and simultaneous launches have increased more than six to seven times, and the preparation time… has been greatly reduced.”
Pentagon says it is working hard to contribute to the self-defense needs of allies and partners in the region to counter threats posed by Iran’s missile program while Iran says it will become one of the world's biggest arms exporters once US sanctions are lifted.