Commercial satellite imagery showed that Israeli air strikes hit buildings during an attack on Saturday that Iran used for mixing solid fuel for ballistic missiles, according to separate assessments by two American researchers.
The judgments were reached by David Albright, a former UN weapons inspector who heads the Institute for Science and International Security research group, and Decker Eveleth, an associate research analyst at CNA, a Washington think tank.
They said separately that Israel struck Parchin, a massive military complex near Tehran. Israel also hit Khojir, according to Eveleth, a sprawling missile production site near Tehran.
Eveleth said the Israeli strikes may have “significantly hampered Iran’s ability to mass produce missiles”.
The Israeli military said three waves of Israeli planes struck missile factories and other sites near Tehran and in western Iran early on Saturday in retaliation for Tehran’s October 1 barrage of more than 200 missiles against Israel.
Iran’s military said the Israeli warplanes used “very light warheads” to strike border radar systems in the provinces of Ilam, Khuzestan and around Tehran.