Satellite image shows devastation caused by Iran blast they said was an 'accident'... as ANOTHER explosion rocks country
This satellite image shows the devastation caused by a mysterious blast at an Iranian missile base earlier this month.
Its buildings are destroyed, mountains of debris are scattered in courtyards and roads are severely damaged.
Iranian authorities claimed the November 12 explosion, which killed 17 at the Revolutionary Guard compound 25 miles east of the capital of Tehran, was caused by 'an accident' when ammunition was being moved.
But the death of Brigadier General Hassan Moghaddam, a senior commander of the country's missile development programme, prompted speculation that Israeli intelligence service Mossad was involved.
Now, with a further blast yesterday in the western city of Isfahan, observers are questioning the competence of those in charge of the country's missile programme.
And they have said the lack of information coming from Iran is doing nothing to clarify their concerns.
A Washington-based research group released the satellite image today, which clearly shows the facility has been all but destroyed, but said it did not provide any clue as to what caused the explosion.
Paul Brannan, senior analyst for the Institute for Science and International Security, said it was 'impossible to tell' whether the blast had been caused by sabtoage.
But he did say that, when performing work with missiles, there are a variety of 'volatile processes' that could cause an explosion.
And he revealed the Institute for Science and International Security had received intelligence from 'knowledgable officials' that the blast occurred as Iran had achieved a milestone in the development of a new missile.
They believed staff could have been performing a 'volatile procedure involving a missile engine at the site.'
That blast was the latest 'disaster' to hit Iran's nuclear programme in the last two years.
In 2010, 18 people were killed after an explosion at a base which housed Shahab-3 long-range missiles. It was also put down to a fire in an ammunition depot.
And it came a week after the release of an International Atomic Energy Agency report that renewed calls inside Israel for a pre-emptive strike against Iran's nuclear facilities.
It focused partly on efforts allegedly being made to fit such a warhead on a missile, and claimed Iran has been working to acquire equipment and weapons design information, testing high explosives and detonators and developing compute models of a warhead’s core.
On Monday, just two weeks after the blast detailed in the satellite image, the western city of Isfahan was also rocked by an explosion.
The semi-official Fars news agency reported it was heard in several parts of the city, with residents saying their windows shook from its force.
But Iranian authorities put it down to a military drill, denying it was somehow related to the nearby nuclear facility, which is regularly monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
An Iranian official said: 'There is no such thing, the blast was entirely from the military maneuver.'
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