Iran airs footage of IRGC naval missile tunnels after Qeshm strike

Official Iranian media aired footage on Tuesday that it said showed missile tunnels belonging to the IRGC Navy in the south, filmed during a visit by the IRGC representative of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Abdollah Haji Sadeghi. The footage was released a day after a “limited” U.S. strike on Qeshm Island near the Strait of Hormuz.

Official Iranian media aired footage on Tuesday, November 3, that it said was filmed inside missile tunnels belonging to the IRGC Navy in the south during a visit by Hojatoleslam Abdollah Haji Sadeghi, the IRGC representative of Iran’s Supreme Leader, as part of a tour of southern areas.

The footage shows long underground corridors lined with trucks carrying launchers and missile containers before cutting to scenes of missiles being launched from coastal sites. Iranian media did not identify the location of the tunnels or the date on which the footage was filmed, nor did it specify the types of missiles shown. The details could not be independently verified.

Anti-ship missiles and speedboats

Iran’s Hamshahri newspaper said the tunnels, along with the coastal geography, anti-ship missiles and speedboats, were presented as part of a strategy to protect military capabilities and keep them ready for use. Tabnak described the footage as showing tunnels “ready to launch missiles at ships and U.S. positions.”

The full version of the recording, which lasts about two minutes, includes footage of Haji Sadeghi walking through the facility with clerics and military personnel, as well as group prayers and a meeting with personnel inside one of the tunnels. The faces of several military personnel were blurred.

Iranian media reported last month that a commander in the IRGC Navy said the tunnels were carved “in the heart of the mountains” and distributed across different areas of the south, adding that their expansion had continued even during wartime.

Messages from the Strait of Hormuz

In mid-October, Haji Sadeghi visited Hormozgan province on the Strait of Hormuz, where he met families of war casualties and personnel deployed on the islands and along the coasts. Standing on a high point overlooking the strait, he said those who had imagined the system would collapse within three days “cannot even cross the Strait of Hormuz today,” Tabnak reported.

The day after the Qeshm strike

The footage was released a day after a strike on Qeshm Island that U.S. officials told American media was “limited” and targeted an IRGC surface-to-air missile platform after a missile was launched at a U.S. aircraft over the strait. Official Iranian media reported hearing five explosions on the island.

In Tehran, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf warned that any U.S. “strategic mistake” would open “a new theater in the war,” insisting that “the ball is in America’s court to prevent war.” The developments came as Americans went to the polls on Tuesday for the midterm elections.

Cover image: Sepah News, the IRGC’s official website. Video: Official Iranian media

Iran airs footage of IRGC naval missile tunnels after Qeshm strike