Screenshot from a propaganda video broadcast by Iran, March 25, 2025.
Iran on Tuesday revealed part of its military capabilities with the release of a video showing the opening of an underground missile facility, attended by Iran's armed forces chief of staff, Gen. Mohammad Baqeri, and the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Aerospace Force, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh. In this nearly one-and-a-half-minute-long propaganda video, the two military officials are seen inside a vehicle driving through an extensive underground tunnel, reviewing various showcased munitions, including dozens of missiles mounted on the backs of pickup trucks ready to be launched.
The video was released against a backdrop of threats from U.S. President Donald Trump. In early March, Trump set a two-month deadline for Tehran to reach a new nuclear agreement. In 2018, Trump withdrew from a previous nuclear weapons deal signed by former President Barack Obama.
The location shown in the video is reportedly "one of hundreds of missile structures" in Iran, according to Hezbollah’s channel, Al-Manar. The party, one of Iran's allies in the region, had released similar videos filmed in its weapon storage facilities during the war with Israel from Oct. 8, 2023, to Nov. 27, 2024.
The Iranian news agency Qods NA reported that the site "houses thousands of Fateh Khaybar, Haj Qassem, Emad, Sejjil, Qadr H and Cruise Paveh ballistic missiles." The Khaybar missiles are said to be capable of defeating the U.S. anti-missile system THAAD, the agency explained. The Haj Qassem missiles are named after Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, assassinated in 2020 during a U.S. airstrike in Baghdad. The Qadr-H missile can travel up to 1,700 kilometers, while the Emad and Sejjil missiles are medium-range ballistic projectiles, the agency added.
"It is almost certain that the video was released as part of wider deterrence messaging by Iran. The video is widely circulated on Telegram channels and WhatsApp groups of the 'Axis of Resistance,' further amplifying Iran's strategic message," Mohammad al-Basha, founder of the Basha Report, a U.S.-based risk consultancy, told the defense-specialized website The War Zone (TWZ).
TWZ also highlighted the "blatant vulnerability" of the storage space appearing in the video. "The munitions are stored in open air in long continuous tunnels and large caverns without blast doors, or at least with minimal blast doors ... This could have devastating consequences in the event of an attack on the facility. The absence of these protective measures could result in a massive chain reaction of secondary explosions," the site warned. TWZ also reported that the U.S. has recently boosted its forces in the Middle East region and ordered the deployment of the aircraft carrier, USS Carl Vinson. It will join the USS Harry S. Truman carrier strike group, the site added, noting that a dozen F-35 fighter jets recently arrived in the region.
