Iran unveiled what it claimed was its new missile city on Tuesday. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) showed off the underground site, which included ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and their launchers. This coincides with Qatar’s recent attempts to act as a mediator between the US and Iran, as well as a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
The site, which cannot be verified and may or may not be brand new, was shown on Iran’s Tasnim News Agency. Iran’s Maj.-Gen. Ali Abdollahi, chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces, and Brig.-Gen. Majid Mousavi, commander of the IRGC Aerospace Force, toured the facility. The previous commander of the space force, Amir Ali Hajizadeh, was killed in 2025 during the conflict with Israel.
“Advanced missiles will surprise enemies with their battlefield impact,” Abdollahi said, according to Rudaw. Iran International reported that Abdollahi warned of retaliation beyond the Middle East if Iran was attacked once again.
“If the enemy makes another move against us, our response will extend beyond the region,” he said.
Missile city filled with medium-range ballistic missiles with boosters, warheads
Various reporting sites examined the images that Iran showed. Osint613 noted that “Fattah-1 medium-range ballistic missiles appear to fill the underground missile city. Separately displayed maneuvering reentry vehicles were observed alongside complete missiles fitted with boosters and warheads.”
Expert Tal Inbar also discussed the Iranian imagery and missiles online. “Maneuverable RV (a reentry vehicle) for Iranian missile Khiber Shekan. It seems like the RV developed for Fateh-1. Frame from a new video released today by Iran,” he noted. “At the underground ‘missile city,’ there were also old missiles with the plain conic RV.”
The underground city also appeared to contain commercial trucks, which are used by civilians to transport goods. The truck, however, is outfitted with a missile in the back. The missile can be obscured, allowing the truck to disguise itself as a civilian vehicle. When needed, the missile can be raised to a launching position from the back of the truck.
Iran unveiled this city for one simple reason: it wants to show that, despite American and Israeli airstrikes, it has preserved its missile capabilities. In March, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “After 20 days, I can tell you – Iran today has no ability to enrich uranium, and no ability to produce ballistic missiles.”
Iranian launch sites not destroyed, facilities dug up after war
Iran has spent years constructing underground missile storage and launch sites. These are known as “missile cities,” designed to protect its arsenal and enable continued military operations during a conflict. Both during and after the Iran war, many have claimed that Iran’s missile launchers were destroyed. However, it turned out that the definition of destroying them meant keeping them buried under rubble. Iran was eventually able to dig them out.
That’s one big problem with missile cities: it’s hard to destroy them when they’re buried deep underground.
IRGC spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Hossein Mohebbi said on Sunday that Iran had moved missile and drone production into its underground complexes.
According to Tasnim, Mohebbi said the IRGC had gone beyond constructing underground storage facilities and was establishing “missile production cities” deep underground. He claimed that Iran’s domestic expertise and flexible production infrastructure would enable weapons manufacturing to continue even if Iran faced heavy bombardment.
These claims come after repeated Israeli and American strikes that aimed to degrade Iran’s missile capabilities. During the 2025 conflict, Israel targeted Iranian missile launchers, storage facilities, and their associated infrastructure. Satellite imagery reviewed by Reuters in February 2026 showed Iran repairing missile bases damaged during the fighting, alongside efforts to reinforce or conceal sensitive military and nuclear facilities.
Thus, the new underground facility illustrates that Iran wants to send a message. It is saying that it still has missiles. The US, however, remains optimistic about coming to an agreement, a sentiment that Iran shares.