Private Intelligence Releases Satellite Photo Of Damage To Secret Missile Base IRGC, Iran: War With Israel Has Started

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh. (Twitter/@IRIMFA_EN)

JAKARTA - A firm statement came out of Tehran when Foreign Ministry officials said the war with Israel had begun. Before yesterday, Israel's private intelligence released satellite photos, which showed damage to missile facilities belonging to the elite force, Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

"The war with Israel has begun", Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Saeed Khatibzadeh, told Maariv, as quoted by The Jerusalem Post October 1.

“Israel has carried out attacks intended to destroy our nuclear program for peaceful purposes. It kills nuclear scientists and harms the Iranian people. Iran is accused of terrorism, but no terrorist is good or bad. The whole crisis in the region is Israel's fault".

Khatibzadeh later claimed Israel had "done everything" to derail nuclear talks in Vienna, causing conflict between Iran and world powers. He accused the United States of "soft terrorism" by withholding drugs and starving his country's people.

Illustration of Iran's Zolfaghar missile. (Wikimedia Commons/Tasnim News Agency)

The Iranian spokesman said Iran's strategic decision to return to the seventh round of nuclear talks in Vienna had been made. He said Iran had announced this two weeks ago to representatives of the European Union, who is in charge of the talks.

Asked if he thought returning to the nuclear deal would prevent military operations by Israel, Khatibzadeh replied, "Israel has undermined our research and civilian systems. There is talk of the Iranian nuclear threat, but Israel has hundreds of bombs, and it has never signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty".

However, Khatibzadeh, speaking at the World Peace Forum said, "the region is tired of war. We have to find a new approach to solving problems according to UN resolutions. All parties must show political will for an arrangement."

Previously, whether related or not, earlier this week Iranian media agencies reported a fire at one of the IRGC's research sites west of the capital Tehran. However, the cause of the fire was not reported.

Illustration of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps troops. (Wikimedia Commons/Tasnim News Agency/Hossein Zohrevand)

Citing Sputnik News, Israel's private intelligence organization on Thursday released satellite images of an alleged Iranian missile development facility outside Tehran, showing the damage caused by the explosion it claimed earlier this week.

As seen in satellite images, at least a quarter of the buildings, which were claimed to be the IRGC's 'secret missile base', were destroyed, with more damage visible on the roofs of the entire structure on Monday shortly after the incident.

ImageSat International, a satellite image analysis company, released the photos. Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group was appointed as the location by the company.

According to reports, as a result of the explosion at the facility, at least two members of the Guard were killed. The IRGC's Research and Self-Sufficiency Jihad Organization, which reportedly runs the facility, was sanctioned by the United States Department of the Treasury in 2017 for its efforts to research and develop ballistic missiles.

To note, since July 2020, a series of suspicious fires and explosions have occurred at Iran's nuclear, military and industrial sites.

According to Iran International, almost simultaneously with the fire in the west of Tehran, another fire broke out at a military research complex in Tehran.

Before & after: An explosion occurred (27 September 2021) at an #IRGC secret missile base of Shahid Hemmat Industrial Group pic.twitter.com/OYnsijeXiq

— ImageSat Intl. (@ImageSatIntl) September 30, 2021