Iran digs in: satellite images reveal new construction at missile bases

Iran is going underground in a hurry. Satellite images from November show significant new construction near at least two of its biggest missile sites, plus repair work at bases damaged by months of US and Israeli air strikes, according to analysts at British intelligence company MAIAR who reviewed the photos for BBC Verify.

The most visible activity sits at the Garmdareh military base in Karaj, near Tehran, and at the Shahroud base in the north. Imagery at both spots shows fresh digging and newly built structures rising from the ground.

The Shahroud excavations could be tied to missile production, former CIA analyst Jim Lamson told BBC Verify. With the nearby Shahroud air base hit multiple times in recent years, he said, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps is probably hunting for ways to shift its production facilities underground.

That fits a familiar playbook. A MAIAR analyst noted Iran has a pattern of moving infrastructure underground to shield it from further strikes, while defence analyst and former Irish military chief Mark Mellett said the buried approach also makes it harder for outside observers to judge how much is still working.

Repairs are spreading far beyond those two sites. At least 12 other military locations, including missile complexes and air bases, show signs of patching up, with new roofs on destroyed buildings at the Kermanshah missile base in western Iran and cleared debris at the repeatedly struck Parchin complex east of the capital.

At Parchin's Taleghan 2 facility, analysts say significant construction appears finished: damaged buildings have been levelled and the aftermath of strikes on an underground bunker repaired and reinforced with concrete. Chatter about the US resuming attacks has grown since this week's midterm elections, where Vice-President JD Vance blamed the war's unpopularity for Republicans' poor showing and said it may have cost his party the Senate for the next six years.