Satellite images suggest construction near Iranian missile sites

BBC Verify said images taken in November show digging and new buildings at the Garmdareh military base in Karaj, near Tehran, and at Shahroud in northern Iran. Analysts from the British intelligence company MAIAR reviewed the images for the broadcaster.

Several vehicles were visible at Karaj. Sam Lair, a researcher at the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI), told the BBC the images appeared to show a possible new entrance to an underground facility.

Former CIA analyst Jim Lamson said the excavation near Shahroud could be connected to missile production. He suggested Iran might be trying to move facilities underground after repeated attacks on the nearby air base. The purpose of the excavation has not been established.

The BBC also reported signs of repairs at other sites, including new roofs on destroyed buildings at the Kermanshah missile base in western Iran. At the Parchin military complex, east of Tehran, damaged buildings and debris had been cleared, it said.

Work at Shahroud has a longer history. In an analysis published on 14 October, FPRI said digging of two tunnel entrances there began in autumn 2024 and continued during the more recent war. The researchers said the tunnels might be intended to protect missile-related activity, but their precise purpose was uncertain.

The institute also found severe damage at three major missile production sites: Parchin, Khojir and Shahroud. Its October assessment found little progress towards restoring Shahroud’s above-ground solid-propellant production complex, where it said buildings and equipment would need to be replaced before production could resume.

That assessment preceded the November images and concerned a specific part of Shahroud, rather than Iran’s overall capacity. Iran says it retains large missile stockpiles; the images do not establish the size of its arsenal or whether missile production has resumed.