Updated July 23, 2025, to include information from a video clip by the Israeli Air Force, identifying the site as for the production of anti-tank missiles.

In our review and analysis of the potentially nuclear weapons related sites in Iran that were bombed by Israel in the recent military conflict, the Institute has come across a missile related munitions production complex that witnessed severe damage to two key facilities between the 17th and 18th of June 2025.  One of the targeted facilities was only about a year old, with construction completed in 2024.  This site sparked our interest as it is clearly able to handle and test high explosives.  It contains an outdoor high-explosive test site and newly built facilities with multiple layers of security.  In addition, there was almost no public information about the site pre-strike.  The only publicly available information on the site may have stemmed from NCRI, which in 2010 alleged that there was a Ya Mahdi/Aerospace Industries Organization of Iran-associated site called “Ansar Al-Mehdi base” near Vandar.^[1]  Post-strike, the Israeli Air Force published a short video clip of the still unnamed site, and identified it as a “site in Iran for the production of anti-tank missiles, which were transferred by the Iranian regime to its proxies.”[2]

The Attacked Site

The site is located adjacent to the village of Vandar in the foothills just north of the Karaj-Qazvin highway, about midway between the two cities, and encompasses a fence-secured area of just over seven square kilometers.  Figure 1 provides an overview of the site.

The site includes several high explosives munitions handling/production/storage/and test facilities.  It features two high explosives test areas, of which one can be identified as for conventional munitions (e.g. Anti-Tank Guided Missile (ATGM) warheads) given the presence of fragmentation screens near the firing points, while the other high explosive test site is more sophisticated, albeit non-specific as to purpose.

 

Figure 1.  An annotated overview of the attacked site, with bombed buildings and other features marked, including a high explosive test site.

The overall site is over twenty years old, as it is visible in satellite imagery dated to 2004, but underwent expansion after 2015 which continued into 2024.  The newest portion of the site appears to have been designed to produce a newer design munition(s), involving the handling of high explosives/propellants within two facilities that are separately triple-fence secured.  This newest portion only appeared complete and ready for full operations in 2024. 

Figure 2 provides an overview of that area and identifies the two triple-secured facilities.   The two facilities were targeted by Israel, as highlighted in the IAF video (see Figure 3). The video also provides a 3D visualization of one of the facilities, including a representation of anti-tank missiles ready for assembly on tables and finished ones in crates inside the main hall of one facility. 

 

Figure 2. The newer portion of the site, containing the facilities that were subsequently attacked. 

 

Figure 3.  A screenshot of an IAF video identifying the two facilities at the Vandar site as targets and the site as involved in anti-tank missile production. 

The newest portion of the Vandar Munitions Production Complex, which appears designed for explosives handling and munitions production, was severely damaged, evidently by bombing by Israel between the 17th and 18th of June 2025.  See Figure 4 for a before and after image of this area. 

This facility is not shown in detail in the IAF video.  From available imagery alone, it is not possible to determine what type of munition/warhead was intended for production at the new facility, but warheads for anti-tank missiles or for different small missiles or drones are feasible. 

The other facility that was bombed was constructed earlier, completed by mid-2018, but features high explosives/propellants storage/handling cells, covered by earth.  The associated building, which according to the IAF video contained many finished or near-finished anti-tank missiles, was destroyed.  The earth-covered cells appear intact post-bombing. See Figure 5 for a before and after image of this facility. 

Overall, it appears now unlikely that this site is one of the nuclear weapons related sites Israel bombed that have only been identified by name but not location, such as the "Shahid Sharati Military Base”.^[3]  The site also does not appear to have been involved with larger ballistic missile production as can be seen at Khojir and Parchin, for example.  Instead, it appears to have been involved with producing smaller scale but more modern munitions instead. 

The high explosive testing capabilities of the site also attracted the attention of the IAEA several years ago.  Because of the minimal information provided by the IAF, we are awaiting confirmation that no nuclear weapons related activities occurred at this site.

The Annex to this report provides a series of images of the individual features of the Vandar site highlighted in Figures 1 and 2, such as the explosives test sites and facilities situated between the two bombed facilities, as well as images of the two destroyed facilities during their construction.   

 

 

Figure 4.  One of two bombed facilities at the Vandar site, with an image before (top) and after the attack (bottom).

 

 

Figure 5.  The second, targeted facility at the Vandar site, before (top) and after (bottom) bombing. An IAF video representation shows anti-tank missiles on tables and in crates inside the main hall, labeled here “Operations Building.” 

 

Annex.

Figure A.1.  A high explosive test site at the Vandar site. 

 

Figure A.2.  A conventional munitions test site. 

 

Figure A.3.  Tunnel entrances at the Vandar site. 

 

Figure A.4.  A probable administration/laboratory building situated at the Vandar site between two bombed facilities underwent expansion and modifications in the late 2010s/early 2020s, including the addition of a nearby support building connected by conduit. 

 

Figure A.5.  Also situated between the two bombed facilities are a set of storage bunkers and a support building, which were built in the late 2010s/early 2020s. 

 

Figure A.6.  The wall-secured probable munitions facility bombed in June 2025 under construction in 2021 (top left), March 2022 (top right), November 2022 (bottom left), and completed in July 2024 (bottom right). 

 

Figure A.7.  The fence-secured explosives handling facility bombed in June 2025, during construction in 2016.

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