Report: Iran Announces Its First Underground Air Force Base

February 8, 2023

by: Kate Norman

Wednesday, 8 February 2023 | Iran unveiled yesterday what the regime said is its first underground air force base, dubbed “Eagle 44.” The base will be equipped with fighter jets and long-range missiles, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported, enabling Iran to respond to attacks from Israel.

“Any attack on Iran from our enemies, including Israel, will see a response from our many air force bases, including Eagle 44,” Iran’s military chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri told IRNA, as quoted by Reuters.

“It is one of the army’s most important air force bases, with fighters equipped with long-range cruise missiles and built in the depths of earth,” IRNA reported without disclosing the location of the base.

The report included several photos of Iranian military officials visiting the underground base, standing next to Iranian air force jets. Forbes noted that the jets are US-built F-4E Phantom II fighter bombers, which the regime acquired from the United States before the 1979 revolution, when the two nations were allies.

The aging Iranian jets likely would not stand much of a chance going head-to-head with Israel’s more advanced F-35 fighter jets in the event the Iranian jets were needed to defend against an Israeli strike. Therefore, Forbes asserted, the Iranian military chief of staff’s emphasis on their fighter bombers being supplied with long-range missiles most likely points to a strategy of waiting out an Israeli attack from the underground base and then launching retaliatory attacks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has taken a strong stance against Iranian regional aggression and vowed to prevent the regime from achieving a nuclear bomb regardless of whether a new nuclear deal is reached. For the past few years, the Israeli military has been beefing up its weapons stash as well as conducting exercises, often with US forces, rehearsing a strike deep within Iranian territory.

Israel has been blamed for several attacks on Iran’s nuclear and weapons development sites over the past few years.

Most recently, the Jewish state was blamed for a drone attack last week on a facility in the central Iranian city of Isfahan, where the regime was reportedly producing Shahed-136 killer drones. Israel, however, did not comment on its involvement in the strike.

Iran also announced in May 2022 another underground base storing 100 drones in the Zagros mountain range along the nation’s western border, the Times of Israel reported.

It appears that both Israel and Iran are preparing for a significant military conflict. And as the situation continues to simmer, the question about an impending conflict seems to be more when than if.

Posted on February 8, 2023

Source: (Bridges for Peace, February 8, 2023)

Photo Credit: Alan Wilson/HawkeyeUK/flickr.com

Photo License: Flickr