An explosion, the latest in a wave of explosions targeting several military and nuclear sites, rocked southwest Teuran in the early hours of Friday morning, cutting off electricity to parts of the city.
Official Iranian sources claimed the explosions were at a power plant.
Powerful explosion in a power plant in Al Zarkan in the Ahvaz area in Iran. pic.twitter.com/kYgam66vWy
— Amir Tsarfati (@BeholdIsrael) July 4, 2020
Journalist Hasan Sari cited official sources claiming the explosions were “due to drilling operations in some tunnels where certain types of explosions are used.” Sari referred to the government claim as “another stupid lie.”
Sari added that there were “a series of explosions” in Tehran, Garmdareh and Quds.. Sari cited unofficial sources claiming the blast allegedly hit a missile facility/warehouse of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
⭕️ #Iran :
A big explosion rocks SouthWest Tehran (according to multiple sources including state-run TV & Mehr News Agency).
Other sources say the blast hit an #IRGC missile facility/warehouses— Hasan Sari (@HasanSari7) July 9, 2020
An analyst told The New York Times there were underground military installations in the area.
“There are two underground facilities, a site associated with chemical weapons research and an unidentified military production site,” said Fabian Hinz of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies.
Friday’s explosions were the most recent in a series of explosions that began on June 26 when a huge explosion rocked Parchin military and weapons development base about 20 miles southeast of the capital Tehran. Authorities initially claimed the explosion took place at a gas storage facility in a “public area” of Parchin rather than the military base. It was later revealed that the explosion was the result of a cyberattack, possibly carried out by Israel.
In July 2015, there were claims based on satellite imagery that there was activity in the Parchin military complex associated with nuclear weapons. UN and international inspectors were denied access to the site and Iran denied the claims saying the satellite photos were fabricated.
At about the same time as the explosion at the Parchin facility, a large explosion at the local power station left half of the city of Tehran without electricity.
Four days later, an explosion from a gas leak in the Sina Athar Medical Center in northern Tehran killed 19 people. Video posted online appeared to show more than one explosion
Last Thursday, a fire broke out at a ground-level building at Iran’s underground Natanz facility which authorities said had caused significant damage. Natanz nuclear facility is generally recognized as Iran’s central facility for uranium enrichment with over 19,000 gas centrifuges currently operational and nearly half of them being fed with uranium hexafluoride. Between 2007–2010 Natanz nuclear power plant was hit by a sophisticated cyberattack that was carried out by German, French, British, American, Dutch and Israeli intelligence organizations. The attack used a Stuxnet worm which hampered the operation of the plant’s centrifuges and caused damage to them over time.
On Tuesday, two people were killed in an explosion at a factory in the south of Tehran.
In an interview on Russian Today television on Saturday, former Iranian diplomat Amir Mousavi warned that Iran is prepared to retaliate against “the Zionist entity”, the US, and an Arab nation he claims participated in the attacks. He claimed the reaction could be a cyberattack or a military attack.
