Revolutionary Guard Shows Underground “Missile City” After Raising Range Cap to 2,000 Kilometers
Key Facts
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard showed an underground facility on Tuesday, November 10, describing it as a “missile city,” alongside unspecified new surface-to-surface missiles, according to the Associated Press. The showing came three days after a Guard spokesman announced the lifting of the self-imposed limit on ballistic missile range, in a development that places the new facility within the context of Tehran’s tougher rhetoric about its missile capabilities. The Guard did not disclose details about the types or specifications of the missiles on display. It also did not identify the facility’s location or clarify whether the visit took place on the day it was shown. The announcement thus focused on the facility and missiles, without enough information on the ground about their location or characteristics.
A state television broadcast showed, according to the Associated Press, a visit by Ali Abdollahi, chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces, to the underground facility. The report described the footage as heavily edited and partially blurred, and did not say when the visit took place. It also gave no details about the location, leaving the facility’s whereabouts undisclosed in the media presentation. The agency did not identify the new missiles shown alongside the facility, describing them only as surface-to-surface missiles. The published information provides no basis for determining their models, fuel or range.
A Guard spokesman announced on November 7 that restrictions on missile range had been lifted, according to the agency, while Iran had previously said its missiles were limited to 2,000 kilometers, or 1,250 miles. In a separate report on the announcement, the agency described the limit as self-imposed and estimated its equivalent at about 1,200 miles; the announced figure in kilometers remains 2,000 in both cases. The agency said Iran had not confirmed that it currently possessed missiles exceeding that previous cap. It also said Tehran was not known to possess missiles that exceed it. That makes the announcement a change to the cap Iran had previously stated, without by itself establishing that it possesses missiles with greater range.
According to the agency, the previous cap put parts of Greece and the Balkans, the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant and most of Egypt within the range of Iranian missiles. This geographic scope describes the reach associated with the previously announced limit, not evidence that Iran possesses missiles exceeding it. U.S. officials, as quoted by the agency, said technologies from Iran’s space program could be repurposed to build intercontinental ballistic missiles. The agency’s report provided no evidence that Iran had built or currently possessed such missiles. The reference to the space program therefore remained attributed to U.S. officials, separate from the announced showing of the facility and unspecified missiles.
The announcement lifting the cap came amid Iranian warnings of responses that would extend beyond geographic boundaries. The agency quoted Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei as saying the previous week that “any threat, whatever its type or level, must be met with an immediate and effective response without geographic limits.” The agency’s November 7 report linked the Guard spokesman’s remarks to the Supreme Leader’s warning about U.S. or Israeli threats. At the facility’s showing on November 10, Abdollahi said Israel had not defeated Iran in recent wars and that his country would surprise its adversaries in any potential war. The agency quoted him as saying Iran would deliver “another surprise” in any possible future war.
On the diplomatic front, the agency reported in its account of the facility that Tehran continued to demand U.S. concessions before resuming talks. The demands include lifting sanctions and the blockade of Iranian ports, unfreezing assets, compensation for war damage, and ending regional hostilities, including Israeli operations in Lebanon. The report gave no date for resuming talks or timetable for implementing these demands. This places the facility’s showing and the announcement lifting the cap at a time when Iran’s stated conditions for returning to negotiations remain in place. The report did not link the military steps to any specific negotiating outcome.