“The idea of building these cities go back to the 1984 and the start of our missiles program; actually the first tunnel had been constructed before the first missile was imported to the country,” Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Aerospace Force Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said in an interview with a state-TV program.

Axar.az reports citing Mehr News:

“Digging tunnels started then and has continued to the present around the clock,” he added, noting that “Sophisticated tunnels have been built in the depth of ground and mountains to keep ammunition, missile, equipment and even personnel.”

“One of the most important capabilities of our country is the missile power,” he said, adding this power should not be exposed to enemies’ threats.

“The enemy is more concerned about those facilities which it has no access to; for example, during the nuclear negotiations, enemies were much more worried about Fordow than they were about Natanz since Fordow was built under the ground,” he added.

In January 2019, concurrent with the 40th Islamic Revolution anniversary, IRGC released footage of an underground missile city jammed with different missiles and ready to be launched in case enemies make any mistake.