Parchin

To the northwest of Parchin in the Barjamali Hills, a test range for liquid-propellant missile engines is part of the Shahid Hemat Industrial Group (SHIG) research facility, where signature of engine test stand firing, probably including technology from the Russian SS-4 Sandal missile, was confirmed by an American spy satellite in August 1997.

On December 15, 1997, SHIG conducted at least a sixth 1997 test of an engine needed for an 800-mile-range (1,300 km) ballistic missile. The test was either the sixth or the eighth during 1997 according to available intelligence. It is reported the Russian Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute [TSAGI] contracted in early 1997 to build a wind tunnel at SHIG, for both Iranian and Russian missile designers to refine the Shahab-3 missile.[1]

On January 13, 2005, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors were allowed access to the Parchin military base as a confidence-building measure.[2][3][4] The IAEA inspectors revisited the site in November 2005.[5]

On 8 March 2012, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia and China called on Iran to allow United Nations inspectors to visit the Parchin military site.[6][7][8]

In early October 2014, the New York Times reported on sabotage concerns arising from a blast that took place at the site.[9]

In July 2015, there were claims that there was activity in the military complex associated with nuclear weapons, but the mission for Iran in the United Nations stated that there is no nuclear weapon production on the site and that the reactivation is a misconception caused by road reconstruction opposite the Mamloo Dam, near the Parchin Military Complex.[10] Mohammad Javad Zarif claimed that the Institute for Science and International Security's analysis of satellite imagery was lies.[11]

In the early morning of 26 June 2020, a huge explosion occurred close to the military base in Parchin. According to the Defense ministry spokesman Davoud Abdi, it was due to "a gas leak" at a "gas storage facility" near the base.[12][13][14] In news that was released the next day by the Associated Press, Sentinel-2 satellite images show signs of a vast blackened area in the hills located next to the ammunitions facility and the cruise missile factory at Khojir missile base, which is evidence of an explosion and fire[15] that lit up the night sky in Tehran.[16][12]