What are Iran’s missile cities and how does the infrastructure resist bombing?

Iran’s “missile cities” are vast underground military ecosystems carved directly from the limestone and granite formations of the country’s mountains. Designed to house ballistic missiles, drones and fighter jets, these facilities guarantee what military doctrine calls “strategic depth”: the ability to absorb a massive air attack and keep retaliatory power intact. By hiding its primary arsenal under hundreds of meters of solid rock, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) makes most conventional munitions obsolete, forcing adversaries to rely on highly specialized anti-bunker weaponry and complex bombing tactics.

Anatomy of Iranian geological fortresses

Far from being mere logistical depots, these bases function as self-sufficient garrisons. To understand where Iran’s underground missile cities are and how they are protected against air attacks, it is necessary to analyze the orography of Persian territory itself. The backbone of this network rests beneath the imposing mountain ranges of Zagros, in the west and south, and Alborz, in the north of the country.

The internal tunnels often exceed 15 meters in height to accommodate large Erector Launch Vehicles (TELs), responsible for firing ballistic missiles such as the Emad and the Khyber Shekan. The indoor environment is maintained by autonomous industrial systems that include:

• Decentralized electrical energy generation arrays;
• Underground water purification and filtration plants;
• Air purification systems designed to isolate troops from chemical attacks;
• Militarized accommodation that allows teams to survive for months without contact with the outside world.

The natural rock acts as an insurmountable shield for thermal reconnaissance satellites and traditional ground-penetrating radars, creating a blind spot for Western militaries’ signals intelligence.

The engineering behind the barrier against deep penetrating munitions

The primary protection of cities from missiles does not depend exclusively on interceptor missiles, but on geological density itself. The extreme depth of the installations nullifies the impact of cruise missiles and standard laser-guided bombs, dictating the tactics necessary for any neutralization attempt.

1. Granite shield and misdirection tactics
   While artificial reinforced concrete bunkers can be destroyed by tandem warheads, Iranian bases use up to 500 meters of natural rock as a primary shield. Facilities buried at depths of more than 60 meters survive regular bombings almost unscathed. To confuse intelligence forces, engineers build multiple false entrances and dead-end tunnels along the base of the mountains.
2. Surface anti-aircraft defense
   To protect structural bottlenecks — such as main tunnel exits and heavy exhaust ducts — the Iranian military positions mobile air defense batteries on hillsides. Radar systems and surface-to-air missiles operate in an integrated manner to shoot down tactical aircraft before they can align the rigorous drop angle required by guided bombs at the base’s physical doors.
3. The threat and mitigation of the GBU-57 MOP bomb
   The main weapon in the United States arsenal capable of threatening the integrity of these structures is the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP). It is a 13,600 kilogram bomb designed with a special steel alloy to pierce around 60 meters of earth and rock before detonating. Carried only by B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, the MOP requires multiple successive attacks on the exact same point (tandem drilling tactic) to reach deeper tunnels, an operational maneuver of extremely high risk and technical complexity.

Tactical operations and underground aviation at Oghab 44 base

The practical application of this excavation engineering has evolved from static storage to active power projection. In February 2023, the Iranian military unveiled Oghab 44 (Eagle 44), its first major underground tactical air base. Located under the mountainous relief of Hormozgan province, strategically close to the Strait of Hormuz, the installation represents a drastic change in the use of missile cities.

This facility accommodates interceptor fighters and bombers (such as the old F-4 Phantom and Su-24), allowing them to be armed underground with long-range cruise missiles such as the Asef, protecting the air fleet against preemptive strikes that would normally destroy planes exposed on open-air runways. In addition to manned fighters, similar networks spread across the territory are used as launch hubs for fleets of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and kamikaze drones.

Frequently asked questions about Iran’s hidden military apparatus

Can military intelligence see inside mountains?

Traditional Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) loses effectiveness after a few tens of meters. Currently, agencies such as the North American DARPA are developing experimental “muon tomography” (MuS2) programs — the use of high-energy cosmic ray particles — to try to map the structural voids within massive granite.

How are missiles launched if they are trapped underground?

The bases have dual launch systems. Some missiles are fired directly from large vertical silos hidden on mountain tops. Most, however, are moved by heavy TEL trucks through the exit ramps only at the precise moment of firing, immediately returning to the depths to avoid satellite detection.

Can nuclear weapons destroy these facilities?

In the scope of non-nuclear weapons, only repeated attacks with GBU-57 bombs present a real chance of piercing natural armor. To neutralize a base hundreds of meters underground with a single guaranteed lethal hit, the only theoretically viable ballistic tool would be an earth-penetrating tactical nuclear warhead (such as the North American model B61-11).

The underground military infrastructure redefined the military operational balance by dramatically inflating the risk and technological cost of a direct attack on Iran’s territory. By transforming the rugged relief of Zagros and Alborz into the country’s main armor line, the model forces great powers to rely on extremely restricted stealth resources. While science attempts to break this topographic secrecy with new particle mapping methodologies, stone citadels remain the essential pillars of Iranian deterrence.