Iran Unveils Underground City with Cruise Missiles for Naval Warfare

A photo released by Mehr of a new underground base housing cruise missiles.
A photo released by Mehr of a new underground base housing cruise missiles.
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Iran Unveils Underground City with Cruise Missiles for Naval Warfare

A photo released by Mehr of a new underground base housing cruise missiles.
A photo released by Mehr of a new underground base housing cruise missiles.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) unveiled a new underground missile city equipped with electronic warfare facilities on the south coast, several Iranian news agencies said on Saturday.

In recent weeks, Iran has stepped up its frequent announcement of “underground missile cities,” in tandem with a flurry of diplomatic activity aimed at reviving negotiations with the United States over its nuclear program.

On Saturday, state media said the naval arm of IRGC showcased a new underground base housing cruise missiles on Iran's southern coast and equipped with electronic warfare facilities.

The Mehr news agency reported that Iran’s IRGC Navy has unveiled a new underground base housing cruise missiles designed to target destroyers in strategic southern waters.

IRGC Chief Commander Major General Hossein Salami visited the “missile city” on Saturday, it added.

He inspected the combat readiness of the navy’s missile units at the new facility, it said, adding that the upgraded missiles stationed in the subterranean base are also equipped to counter electronic warfare and can be operational in the shortest time possible.

On January 18, the naval arm of IRGC unveiled an underground base in the country’s southern waters, according to footage aired by state television.

The broadcaster showed that the base houses dozens of assault boats equipped with missile launchers.

Iranian state television says Iran only disclosed a small part of its underground and field missile cities.

Meanwhile, Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, Chief of Staff and Deputy Coordinator of the Iranian Army said his country “is fully prepared to confront any threats, no matter where they originate.”

“Iran, as a regional power, plays a key and influential role, and therefore, can affect all regional developments,” he asserted during an interview on Friday with an Iranian news agency.

Iran fears US President Donald Trump will reimpose his “maximum pressure policy” through more sanctions on its oil, particularly after Tehran significantly expanded its production of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.



Russia Expels Two UK Diplomats as it Negotiates to Restore US Ties

A flag flies at the British embassy in Moscow, Russia September 13, 2024. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
A flag flies at the British embassy in Moscow, Russia September 13, 2024. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
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Russia Expels Two UK Diplomats as it Negotiates to Restore US Ties

A flag flies at the British embassy in Moscow, Russia September 13, 2024. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
A flag flies at the British embassy in Moscow, Russia September 13, 2024. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights

Russia accused two British diplomats on Monday of spying and gave them two weeks to leave the country, reinforcing the downward trajectory of Moscow's diplomatic relations with Europe even as it negotiates to restore ties with the United States.
Britain's Foreign Office rejected the allegations against its diplomats as "baseless".
Moscow has been angered by Britain's continued military support for Ukraine and by Prime Minister Keir Starmer's recent statements about putting British boots on the ground and planes in the air in Ukraine as part of a potential peacekeeping force, Reuters said.
The expulsions also come days after three Bulgarians were found guilty in a London court of being part of a Russian spy unit run by Wirecard fugitive Jan Marsalek to carry out surveillance on a US military base and other individuals targeted by Moscow.
The two Britons appear to be the first Western diplomats to be expelled from Russia since Moscow and Washington opened talks on restoring staff at their respective embassies that have been depleted by tit-for-tat expulsions, part of Donald Trump's rapprochement with the Kremlin that has alarmed European allies.
Similar expulsions have sharply curtailed the functioning of Russian embassies across the West and of Western missions in Russia since President Vladimir Putin sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in 2022.
Russia's Federal Security Service said the two British diplomats had provided false information when getting permission to enter the country, and it had "identified signs of intelligence and subversive work" they had carried out, harming Russian security.
The Kremlin said Russia's intelligence services were doing everything necessary to safeguard national security.
Responding to Moscow's decision, Britain's Foreign Office said in a statement: "This is not the first time that Russia has made malicious and baseless accusations against our staff."
RELATIONS IN DEEP FREEZE
Russia's Foreign Ministry said it had summoned a British embassy representative over the expulsions and had complained that the diplomats were "undeclared" employees of Britain's intelligence services, something Moscow would not tolerate.
The ministry said it would "respond in kind" if London now decided to "escalate" the situation.
Russian police in February opened a criminal investigation into an alleged assault on a freelance journalist by a person believed to be an employee of the British embassy, an allegation London dismissed as "an interference operation" designed to intimidate legitimate diplomats.
That announcement came a day after Britain announced it was expelling a Russian diplomat in retaliation for Moscow throwing out a British diplomat last November.
Relations between Britain and Russia have plunged to post-Cold War lows since the start of the Ukraine war. Britain has joined successive waves of sanctions against Russia and provided arms to Ukraine.