The Shahid Meysami (or Meisami) research center is located west of Tehran, near Karaj, at coordinates 35.764667, 51.03245 and is part of Iran’s nuclear weaponization complex, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).  

This site is part of the Shahid Meysami group, a known subordinate of SPND (officially known as the Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research).  The group was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2020 for undertaking projects that include testing and producing chemical agents and optimizing them for effectiveness and toxicity for use as incapacitation agents. [1]  The IDF identified the Shahid Meysami site as being “used to produce raw materials for the development of nuclear weapons.” See Figure 1.

The Times of Israel reported that the site was believed to house “plastic explosives and advanced materials used in nuclear detonation testing." [2] Iran’s detonation system, or multi-point initiators (shock wave generators) require highly purified plastic explosives in its channels.  

Satellite imagery taken by Airbus shows multiple buildings at the research center were destroyed during Israel’s bombing campaign between the 15th and 16th of June.  The site was bombed again between the 17th and 18th of June.  The buildings destroyed during the first attack included a large hangar-type building constructed in 2021-2024, which may have been the one referenced in the Times of Israel report. [3] Figure 2 shows this and the other buildings destroyed at the site during the first bombing.  

The widely dispersed roofing material after the attack indicates that an explosion took place inside the building.  Further, images taken during the construction of the hangar-type building reveal that it contains a concrete pit in the building floor, measuring 7.5 meters by 4.5 meters, which could have a role in casting plastic explosives (see Figure 3).  Yet, the site lacks the typical signs one would expect for finished explosives processing and storage (even so-called insensitive high explosives) which generally entail significantly greater remoteness, higher physical security, lightning arrestors, as well as encompassing earthen berms for local blast protection in case of accidents.

During the second bombing, one building in the southernmost corner of the complex was damaged (see Figure 4). The building appears to have been the main building of a small Administration/Laboratory complex built between 2001 and 2008, with a red roof top cover added by September 2009.  Ducting on the roof visible before the roof cover was added indicates that the probable laboratory section of the building received most damage.  Despite being part of the broader Shahid Meysami complex, this facility was physically separated by a perimeter fence and a wall that served as visual security shielding (see Figure 5).

Low levels of activity can be observed in satellite imagery at the site over the years, with levels of activity increasing notably in the spring of 2020.  In mid-2020, buildings were added in the vicinity of the building complex (see Figure 6). After that, visible activity remains at high levels at the site.

 

Figure 1.  IDF schematic. 
 

Figure 2.  Inflicted damage during the first attack on Iran’s Shahid Meysami Research Center, reportedly housing plastic explosives and advanced materials used in shock wave generators for nuclear weapons.

 

Figure 3.  A close up of the construction of a hangar-type building at Shahid Meysami in 2022, destroyed by Israel in June 2025.

 

Figure 4.  A likely laboratory building in the southernmost corner of the Shahid Meysami complex was damaged in a second attack on the site.  

 

Figure 5.  The building was constructed between 2001 and 2008 and modified by September 2009.

 

Figure 6.  High levels of activity can be observed in satellite imagery starting in 2020, including the addition of a new facility, which was completed by mid-April 2024. 
 

Images

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Sources

[2] “Shaken by depth of Israeli penetration, Iran said to launch sweeping internal crackdown,” Times of Israel, June 28, 2025, https://www.timesofisrael.com/shaken-by-depth-of-israeli-penetration-iran-said-to-launch-sweeping-crackdown/.