Satellite photos show Israel hit Iran missile fuel-mixing facilities, researchers say

Commercial satellite imagery showed that Israeli airstrikes hit buildings during an attack on Saturday that Iran used for mixing solid fuel for ballistic missiles, according to separate assessments by two American researchers.

The judgments were reached by David Albright, a former U.N. weapons inspector who heads the Institute for Science and International Security research group, and Decker Eveleth, an associate research analyst at CNA, a Washington think tank.

They told Reuters separately that Israel struck Parchin, a massive military complex near Tehran. Israel also hit Khojir, according to Eveleth, a sprawling missile production site near Tehran.

Reuters reported in July that Khojir was undergoing massive expansion.

Eveleth said the Israeli strikes may have “significantly hampered Iran’s ability to mass produce missiles.”

The Israeli military said three waves of Israeli jets struck missile factories and other sites near Tehran and in western Iran early on Saturday in retaliation for Tehran’s Oct. 1 barrage of more than 200 missiles against Israel.

Iran’s military said the Israeli warplanes used “very light warheads” to strike border radar systems in the provinces of Ilam, Khuzestan and around Tehran.

Eveleth said that an image from Planet Labs, a commercial satellite firm, showed that an Israeli strike destroyed two buildings in Khojir where solid fuel for ballistic missiles was mixed.

The buildings were enclosed by high dirt berms, according to the image reviewed by Reuters. Such structures are associated with missile production and are designed to stop a blast in one building from detonating combustible materials in nearby structures.

Planet Labs imagery of Parchin showed that Israel destroyed three ballistic missile solid fuel mixing buildings and a warehouse, he said.

Albright said he reviewed low-resolution commercial satellite imagery of Parchin that appeared to show that an Israeli strike damaged three buildings, including two in which solid fuel for ballistic missiles was mixed.

He did not identify the commercial firm from which he obtained the images.