Iran Rapidly Clearing Rubble from Underground Missile Base Near Khomein, Satellite Images Show

Iran has begun excavating and clearing debris from a major underground ballistic missile base near Khomein in central Iran, taking advantage of the current ceasefire with the United States and Israel, according to fresh commercial satellite imagery and U.S. intelligence assessments.

Satellite images taken on April 10, 2026, show Iranian engineering teams using front-end loaders and dump trucks to remove rubble blocking tunnel entrances at the facility. The strikes earlier in the conflict, part of the U.S.-Israeli campaign, primarily collapsed or sealed the access points and entrances, while leaving the deeper infrastructure and missile storage areas inside the mountain largely intact, CNN reported Wednesday.

U.S. intelligence officials assess that Iran can recover many of the buried missile launchers relatively quickly, potentially within days rather than months, and still retains thousands of medium- and short-range ballistic missiles that can be retrieved from both above-ground and underground storage, according to The Wall Street Journal and The Times of Israel.

The rapid recovery efforts were also noted at a similar site south of Tabriz. Analysts and officials have expressed concern that Tehran is using the pause in fighting to reconstitute its ballistic missile capabilities, which were heavily targeted during the recent wave of airstrikes.