Dubai, United Arab Emirates (AP) -Oran has begun to rebuild missile production sites led by Israel during their 12-day war in June, the satellite images analyzed by Associated Press Show, but it is likely that a key component is still missing: the big mixers needed to produce solid fuel for weapons.
The reconstitution of the missile program is crucial for the Islamic Republic, which believes that another war round with Israel can happen. The missiles are one of Iran’s few municipal elements after the war decimated its air defense systems, something that Tehran has insisted for a long time will never be included in the negotiations with the West.
Missile experts told AP that obtaining mixers is a goal for Tehran, particularly because it prepares so that the possible sanctions of the United Nations are imposed again in the country at the end of this month. The sanctions would penalize any development of the missile program, among other measures. Iranian President Masoud Peeshkian will go to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday.
Known as planetary mixers, machines have blades that revolve around a central point, such as orbit planets, and offer a better mixing action than other types of equipment. Iran could buy them in China, where American experts and officials say they have bought missile fuel ingredients and other components in the past.
“If you are able to react some key things such as planetary mixers, then that infrastructure is still there and is ready to replace it,” said Sam Lair, an associate of research at the James Martin center for non -proliferation studies that studied Iranian missile sites.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not answer questions about the country’s efforts to rebuild its missile program.
The Israeli war directed the solid fuel missile sites
Solid fuel missiles can shoot faster than those that use liquid fuel, which must be loaded just before launch. That speed can make the difference between launching a missile and destroying it in a pitcher, something that happened during the war with Israel.
Iran has manufacturing bases of solid fuel missiles in Khojir and Parking, two sites on the outskirts of Tehran, as well as in Shahroud, about 350 kilometers (215 miles) northeast of the capital. Even before the most recent war, all these sites were under the Israeli attack in October 2024 during hostilities among countries.
The attacks during the war in June appeared to destroy buildings that housed the mixers, which are necessary to ensure that missile fuel is combined evenly, according to experts. Other sites attacked by Israel included manufacturing facilities that could probably be used to make mixers.
Planet Labs PBC satellite images taken this month and analyzed by AP Show Construction at the Parking and Shahroud facilities.
In Parking, mixing buildings seem to be on repair, said Lair, and a similar reconstruction is occurring in Shahroud that involves mixing buildings and other structures.
The speed at which I will show Iran shows the importance that Tehran puts in its missile program. Iran bombarded nuclear sites have not seen the same level of activity.
During the war, Iran triggered 574 ballistic missiles to Israel, according to the Jewish Institute of National Security of America, based in Washington, which has a close relationship with the Israeli army. In two fire exchanges before the war, Iran launched another 330 missiles, said the group of experts.
The Israeli army had estimated Iran’s total arsenal in around 2,500 missiles, which means that more than a third of its missiles were fired.
Before the war, Iran was on its way to producing more than 200 solid fuel missiles per month, said Carl Parkin, a summer member at James Martin Center. Which attracted Israeli missile construction facilities.
“Israel’s orientation indicates that they believed that mixing was a bottleneck in Iran’s missile production,” he said. “If Iran can overcome their mixing limitations, they will have all the launch capacity they need to start producing high volumes again.”
The Israeli army refused to answer questions about their strategy. Iran’s Minister of Defense, General Aziz Nasirzadeh, recently said that Tehran now has new missiles with more advanced eyelets.
“The 12 -day war with Israel has altered some of our priorities,” he said on August 22. “Now we are focused on producing military teams with greater precision and greater operational capabilities.”
Chinese mixers seen on the Syrian missile site affiliated with Iran
Iran can choose to trust China to obtain mixers and chemicals to make solid fuel.
Such chemicals may have caused a mass explosion in April that killed at least 70 people in a port in Iran. Iran has not yet explained the explosion, which occurred when their diplomats met with the Americans in Oman for their nuclear program.
A few days after the explosion, the United States Department of State sanctioned Chinese companies that, he said, provided the Islamic Republic “Balistic missile propulsor ingredients.”
Meanwhile, Iran’s revolutionary guard probably supplied a planetary mixer to an underground ballistic missile construction installation in Syria, near the city of Masyaf, about 170 kilometers (105 miles) north of the capital, Damascus, near the Lebanese border. The images published by the Israeli military months after the raid of September 2024 in the installation showed the mixer, which looked like other sold online by Chinese companies.
Iran’s president and military officers visited Beijing earlier this month for the Chinese Victory Day Parade. The Iranian government has not provided a detailed reading about what fishshkian told Chinese President Xi Jinping, and China’s state media offered no indications that Tehran asked for help.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs asked about the supply of Tehran mixers and fuel ingredients, said Beijing is “willing to continue taking advantage of its influence to contribute to peace and stability in the Middle East.”
“China supports Iran in the safeguarding of their national sovereignty, national security and dignity,” said the ministry. “At the same time, China is deeply concerned about the continuous climb of tensions in the Middle East.”
Can KasapoÄŸlu, the main member of the Hudson Institute based in Washington, said that Beijing could supply guidance and microprocessor systems also for Iran’s ballistic missiles?
“If they will use their relationship with China to reinforce their disruptive military capabilities, the 12 -day war could be a mere speed increase for the Iranian regime, instead of a decisive defeat,” he wrote.
Lair, the analyst, said that if they will restart their production at the levels prior to war, the large number of missiles produced will make it more difficult for Israelis to destroy them or tear them down preventively.
“They are clearly very interested in their missile program, and I don’t think they will negotiate it,” he said.
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Associated Press receives support for nuclear safety coverage of the Carnegie Corporation in New York and the Outrider Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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Additional AP coverage of the nuclear landscape: https://apnews.com/projects/the-nuclear-landscape/
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