US-Israel Intel Efforts Focus on Assessing Threat of New Weapons Kept in Iran’s New Missile City

By ARIE EGOZI

Foreign Affairs

Tel Aviv. The American and Israeli intelligence organizations are focusing their efforts in assessing the threat level of the allegedly new weapons Iran is keeping in its new “Missile city.”

Two weeks ago, Iran has unveiled a new “missile city” in which the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) are storing a massive amount of missiles and munitions.

According to reports, the new base is located near the sea and provides operational flexibility for Iran’s anti-ship ballistic missiles.

In recent months Iran has claimed it gained new anti-ship capabilities mainly based on a converted Fatah-110 missile with solid propellant. Iran unveiled the missiles at the time amid tensions with Israel and the US.

Iran’s Press TV said “the naval force of the IRGC has unveiled a new strategic missile site at an undisclosed location, which hosts various types of advanced ballistic and cruise missiles.”

According to the TV report the site was unveiled during a ceremony attended by the IRGC’s Chief Commander Major General Hossein Salami, Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri, the commander of the IRGC’s Navy, and a number of other high-ranking military officials and commanders. During the ceremony, the IRGC’s Navy displayed different types of modern cruise and ballistic missiles systems with various ranges.

The Iranian video showed a dozen mobile launchers with two missiles each mounted on trucks, and underground storage for hundreds of more missiles.

The IRGC Navy claims it has new equipment. In February, Iran said that the IRGC Navy received 340 new boats, some with drones installed.

By one count there were some 170 Nasr anti-ship missiles in the video.

Iran has blamed Israel for an alleged attack on the Shahr E Kord Iranian tanker on March 11. A Wall Street Journal article also alleged Israel has carried out a dozen attacks against Iranian ships trading with Syria since 2019.

The American and Israeli intelligence organizations are trying to analyze the data that was released and combining it with data they have from other source.

Israeli sources say that the threat from such a concentration of anti-ship weapons must be taken very seriously, in spite of the fact that the Iranians have a “tendency to exaggerate the capabilities of their home made weapon systems,” one of the sources said.

-The writer is an International Roving Correspondent of the publication