rattled windows and raised huge clouds of dust...

https://www.aol.co.uk/news/202...pected-missile-site/

As usual, no explanation has been forthcoming, but the epicentre seems to be at one of Iran's multitude of underground facilities - this one dedicated to the R&D of ballistic missiles.

Well, let's just hope that it was nothing trivial.

Couldn't happen to a better bunch of lunatics unless it was the NORKs.

Mazel Tov!

https://www.dailystar.co.uk/ne...les-weapons-22261778

First thought was this but seems pretty far away to be getting readings . But nuclear particulate is my not my thing.

Most British tabloids are somewhere between the National Enquirer and Playboy when it comes to sensationalism and tits.

quote:

Originally posted by Fla. Jim:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Fla. Jim:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by braillediver:
Most British tabloids are somewhere between the National Enquirer and Playboy when it comes to sensationalism and tits.

Perhaps https://www.reuters.com/articl...y-says-idUSKBN23X2TN ? No T&A though. But it appears to originate in another site as it was detected on the 22

quote:

Originally posted by braillediver:
Most British tabloids are somewhere between the National Enquirer and Playboy when it comes to sensationalism and tits.

Yup, great, eh?

Helps one keep abreast of the times, doncha know?

I like tits, no reason to bring them into this.

Iranians still screwing around with liquid fuel for their big missiles?

Celebrating the Fourth of July a little early aren't they?

Ins ha Allah! (They just don't listen though.)

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
An explosion that rattled Iran’s capital came from an area in its eastern mountains that analysts believe hides an underground tunnel system and missile production sites, satellite photographs showed Saturday.

What exploded in the incident early Friday that sent a massive fireball into the sky near Tehran remains unclear, as does the cause of the blast.

The unusual response of the Iranian government in the aftermath of the explosion, however, underscores the sensitive nature of an area near where international inspectors believe the Islamic Republic conducted high-explosive tests two decades ago for nuclear weapon triggers.

The blast shook homes, rattled windows and lit up the horizon early Friday in the Alborz Mountains. State TV later aired a segment from what it described as the site of the blast.

One of its journalists stood in front of what appeared to be large, blackened gas cylinders, though the camera remained tightly focused and did not show anything else around the site. Defense Ministry spokesman Davood Abdi blamed the blast on a leaking gas he did not identify and said no one was killed in the explosion.

Abdi described the site as a “public area,” raising the question of why military officials and not civilian firefighters would be in charge. The state TV report did not answer that.

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Satellite photos of the area, some 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) east of downtown Tehran, showed hundreds of meters (yards) of charred scrubland not seen in images of the area taken in the weeks ahead of the incident. The building near the char marks resembled the facility seen in the state TV footage.

The gas storage area sits near what analysts describe as Iran's Khojir missile facility. The explosion appears to have struck a facility for the Shahid Bakeri Industrial Group, which makes solid-propellant rockets, said Fabian Hinz, a researcher at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California.

The Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies identified Khojir as the “site of numerous tunnels, some suspected of use for arms assembly.” Large industrial buildings at the site visible from satellite photographs also suggest missile assembly being conducted there.

The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency says Iran overall has the largest underground facility program in the Middle East.

Such sites “support most facets of Tehran’s ballistic missile capabilities, including the operational force and the missile development and production program,” the DIA said in 2019.

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Iranian officials themselves also identified the site as being in Parchin, home to a military base where the International Atomic Energy Agency previously said it suspects Iran conducted tests of explosive triggers that could be used in nuclear weapons. Iran long has denied seeking nuclear weapons, though the IAEA previously said Iran had done work in “support of a possible military dimension to its nuclear program” that largely halted in late 2003.

Western concerns over the Iranian atomic program led to sanctions and eventually to Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. The U.S. under President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the accord in May 2018, leading to a series of escalating attacks between Iran and the U.S. and Tehran abandoning the deal's production limits.

Iran's missile and space programs have suffered a series of explosions in recent years. The most notable came in 2011, when a blast at a missile base near Tehran killed Revolutionary Guard commander Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam, who led the paramilitary force's missile program, and 16 others. Initially, authorities described the blast as an accident, though a former prisoner later said the Guard interrogated him on suspicion Israel caused the explosion.

This June 21, 2020 photo from the European Commission's Sentinel-2 satellite shows a site before an explosion June 26, 2020, that rattled Iran’s capital. Analysts say the blast came from an area in Tehran’s eastern mountains they hides a underground tunnel system and missile production sites. (European Commission via AP)




This Friday, June 26, 2020, photo from the European Commission's Sentinel-2 satellite shows the site of an explosion that rattled Iran’s capital. Analysts say the blast came from an area in Tehran’s eastern mountains they hides a underground tunnel system and missile production sites. The explosion appears to have charred hundreds of meters of scrubland. (European Commission via AP)


Reported by AP

https://apnews.com/8d2517ff364bb395f0385859f0fa9d0f

Looks like the Israelis are having fun again.

Did the USA drop a bomb on Iran? Just asking?...lol

Probably just an unfortunate accident but I'd like to think it wasn't.

The State Department should immediately deny culpability, via their most mealy-mouthed non-credible spokescritter.

right place, right time

Where's old Baghdad Bob these days?