Iran denies missile base blast after mystery explosion rocks western city

A mysterious explosion, characterized as a “terrible sound followed by strong shocks” by Iranian pro-regime media, struck an area near Khorramabad in the Lorestan province in western Iran on Monday night, causing “fear and concern,” and believed by residents to be an earthquake.

Following the huge sound heard last night in parts of #Iran's city of #Khorramabad, the Institute of Geophysics at the University of Tehran has said that the tremors felt in the city last night were due to an earthquake registering a magnitude of 2 on the Richter scale. pic.twitter.com/htVbU5JJdq

— Iran Nuances (@IranNuances) September 26, 2023

According to Tasnim News Agency, “After a terrible sound was heard at midnight last night, opposition [anti-regime] media and others announced that a terrible explosion occurred in one of Lorestan’s military centers.”

Iranians 'rushed to the streets' in fear

The outlets were quick to note that an earthquake had not occurred, with Tasnim even consulting earthquake experts at Tehran University to verify if the sound was caused by a tremor. Nevertheless, people reported “strong shocks” from what may have been an explosion underground. People “rushed to the streets” in fear, Tasnim said.

According to the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a Washington-based security nonprofit with a focus on nuclear and biological threats, Khorramabad hosts the site of an Iranian missile base. The Imam Ali Missile Base is “one of two Iranian silo missile bases,” details the NTI report, adding that former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami reportedly “ordered the production of 15 Shahab-3 missiles, to be deployed in underground bunkers near Khorramabad.

”The complex is “heavily guarded,” the report adds. “One of them [is] a storage facility and the second an operational missile launch facility.”

The Center for Strategic and International Studies, an American think-tank affiliated with Georgetown University in Washington, DC, noted that the “7th Al-Hadid Missile Brigade equipped with Shahab-1 and -2 (Scuds B and C) missiles, [is] based in the Karaj area; and controls the Imam Ali Missile Site in Khorramabad, western Iran,” noting as well that the 23rd Towhid Missile Brigade is based in Khorramabad.

Iran denies 'false news' over missile-related blast

Iranian media quoted officials in Lorestan, who allegedly expressed concern about “false news and speculation,” indicating that this may be a security and political issue. “We request the people of Lorestan not to pay attention to rumors and to receive news only from official authorities and media,” the authorities said.

Jason Brodsky, policy director at United Against a Nuclear Iran, noted that “there have been mysterious explosions at Imam Ali Base before in Iran,” in a post on social media, referencing similar incidents that have occurred there, including in 2010.