World
Secret Iranian missile storage site exposed by anti-regime group amid mounting regional tensions
A leading Iranian dissident group, the People’s Mojahedin of Iran (MEK), has provided Fox News Digital with information about a secret site where the Islamic Republic of Iran allegedly stores and prepares the missiles it uses against foes, sells to allies and provides to its proxies.
Located in a mountainous region outside of Eshtehard City, northwest of Tehran in Alborz province, the camp, known as the Shahid (Martyr) Soltani Garrison, is heavily guarded and surrounded by two rows of barbed wire. It has purportedly seen increased activity in the latter part of 2024, with the MEK noting that “more than ten trailers carrying missile parts” passed into the camp in July.
Among the weapons stored at the site are the Shahab-3, Qiam, Fateh and Fath series ballistic missiles, the MEK said.
FROM CEASE-FIRE PUSH TO BOOTS ON THE GROUND IN ISRAEL: US SEEMINGLY ACCEPTS INVOLVEMENT IN ESCALATING WAR
Satellite imagery shows the Shahid Soltani Garrison, outside of Eshtehard City, Iran, including large storage warehouses (left), a set of smaller buildings (right) and an underground tunnel with two openings (center). (NCRI/MEK)
Iran expert, Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said after its “layered attack” on Israel in April, which involved about 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, the Islamic Regime “got rid of the low- and slow-flying” assets and “doubled down on ballistic” weapons. Iran launched more than 180 ballistic missiles into Israeli airspace on Oct. 1.
Taleblu noted that Iran utilized the same liquid-propellant systems from its April attack, the Emad and Ghadr ballistic missiles, which are evolutions of the Shahab-3. He said the October attack also involved the solid-propellant Kheibar Shekan and reportedly even the hypersonic Fattah-1 ballistic missile. An Israel Defense Forces spokesperson also confirmed to Fox News Digital that Iran’s recent attacks included Fattah-1 and Fattah-2 hypersonic ballistic missiles.
The Shahid Soltani Garrison is in a remote mountainous area outside Eshtehard, Iran. (NCRI/MEK)
During the larger Oct. 1 attack on Israel, two U.S. destroyers intercepted about a dozen Iranian missiles. Neither the Pentagon nor the Defense Intelligence Agency responded to Fox News Digital’s questions about whether American assets have been targeted by the varieties of Iranian ballistic missiles said to be housed at the Eshtehard site, or whether the U.S. has intercepted any of these missiles in the region.
To protect Israel from further Iranian ballistic missile strikes, the U.S. sent its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system to Tel Aviv, along with a cadre of 100 U.S. soldiers to operate the system. Taleblu says THAAD will “function as a critical patch in Israel’s existing, already very well-layered air-missile defenses,” though with just 48 interceptors, Taleblu says THAAD’s long-term suitability is “debatable.”
IRAN’S NATIONAL AIRLINER ACCUSED OF FLYING WEAPONS TO BEIRUT AIRPORT FOR TERROR PROXY HEZBOLLAH: REPORT
Commander of Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Amir Ali Hajizadeh gives a speech as Iran presents its first hypersonic ballistic missile, Fattah, at an event in Tehran, on June 6, 2023. (Sepah News / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
It is unknown whether ballistic missiles targeting Israel were stored or prepared at the Shahid Soltani Garrison. It is also unknown whether the short-range ballistic missiles Iran provided to Russia, for which Iran was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury and State departments, were held at the location.
The MEK provided satellite imagery showing two distinct sections of the Shahid Soltani Garrison. Above-ground storage sites “were established at least 15 years ago” and include a segment of one-floor warehouses and one three-floor warehouse that offer a combined 6,500 square meters of storage space. Around 10 buildings in another segment of the garrison offer up an additional 3,000 square meters of space. Underground tunnels constructed on the site between 2017 and 2021 offer more storage locations.
According to the report, the Al-Ghadir Missile Command, an element of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Aerospace Force, is responsible for the camp. IRGC Brig. Gen. Partovi was the last known commander of the site. The MEK stated that Col. Mohammad Reza Hakimzadeh and Col. Barati of the Eshtehard Corps of the IRGC are responsible for administrative affairs related to the camp.
ISRAELI FORCES SEIZE DOCUMENTS THAT REVEAL HAMAS PLAN FOR MORE ELABORATE ATTACKS: REPORT
The report shows three one-story warehouses, one three-story warehouse and a fifth undescribed warehouse that provide a total of 6,500 square meters of storage space in one segment of the Shahid Soltani Garrison. (MEK/NCRI)
In 2010, the Al-Ghadir Missile Command was sanctioned by the U.S. as well as by the EU. Commanders within Al-Ghadir Missile Command, including Mahmoud Bagheri Kazemabad and Mohammad Agha Jafari, have also been subject to U.S. sanctions.
Ballistic missiles of likely and certain Iranian origin have previously targeted U.S. forces. Iran-backed militias fired an unknown close-range ballistic missile at Al Asad Air Base on Nov. 21, 2023, resulting in eight injuries and damage to infrastructure.
On Jan. 8, 2020, Iran launched 27 theater ballistic missiles toward Al Asad Air Base. Of these, 11 Fateh and Qiam missiles landed inside the U.S. base, according to a medical study of the attack’s effects. The missiles’ impact resulted in around 35 cases of traumatic brain injury or concussion.
Residents of Jerusalem take shelter during an Iranian missile barrage on Oct. 1, 2024. (Yoav Dudkevitch/TPS-IL)
Taleblu noted that countering Iran’s ballistic missile program will require several lines of effort. On the economic and political end of the spectrum, they are taking on Iran’s trade with China, going after Iran’s domestic and foreign supply chain “for the whole ballistic life cycle” and exposing the rotating array of individuals involved with the ballistic missile program to travel bans and sanctions. In tandem with covert or kinetic operations, the aforementioned efforts “can really handcuff this missile program,” Taleblu explained.
Taleblu said the importance of maintaining advanced missile defense systems in order to deter Iranian weapons, hardening U.S. bases,and ensuring “the elements of deterrence by punishment are not only present, but are understood and are credible.”
A Fateh-110 missile is shown at an undisclosed location in Tehran, Iran, circa 2010. (Vahid Reza Alaei/Iranian Defense Ministry via AP/File)
Alireza Jafarzadeh, deputy director of the National Council of Resistance of Iran’s Washington office, shared a different approach with Fox News Digital. He explained that “true democracy in Iran and peace and tranquility in the region depend on the regime’s downfall, a responsibility that lies with the Iranian people and their organized resistance.”
“The Iranian regime’s survival depends on exporting terrorism and belligerence while brutally oppressing the Iranian people,” Jafarzadeh said. Given that “decades of appeasement have emboldened this dictatorship,” he called for enforcement of “the terror designation of the IRGC and Ministry of Intelligence and Security” and recommended that “supporting the Iranian youth and Resistance Units to confront the IRGC are crucial steps that the United States and European nations must adopt.”
World
Mike Waltz says Gulf allies back Trump’s Iran pressure campaign after regional trip: ‘Zero daylight’
Dan Hoffman questions Iran’s readiness to negotiate a deal
Former CIA Chief of Station Dan Hoffman discusses the potential Iran deal, expressing doubt about its sincerity. He highlights U.S. military strikes, sanctions and blockades as key leverage points. Hoffman questions whether Iran’s recent ‘maximalist demands’ indicate a genuine desire for a breakthrough after intense pressure.
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U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz said Gulf allies are backing President Donald Trump’s blockade and economic pressure campaign against Iran, telling Fox News Digital after a trip to Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom that regional leaders believe Tehran is feeling the pain.
Waltz spoke to Fox News Digital on Thursday evening shortly after landing back in the United States, as reports of a possible deal with Iran began to emerge. He said the situation was still shifting by the hour, noting that Iran had launched another strike on Bahrain shortly after he left the region.
Waltz, the highest-level U.S. official to visit the region since the war began, said Gulf partners strongly support the administration’s efforts to keep pressure on Iran through both the blockade and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s “Operation Economic Fury.”
SCOTT BESSENT SAYS IRAN UNDERSTANDS ‘BRUTE FORCE’ AS TRUMP WEIGHS OPTIONS AMID NUCLEAR STANDOFF
US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz is joined by Ambassador Jamal Fares Alrowaiei of Bahrain (left), Permanent Representative of the United Arab Emirates Mohamed Issa Abushahab,(right) and other Gulf states ambassadors as he speaks to reporters after the passing of a U.N. Security Council draft resolution on the situation with ships in the Strait of Hormuz on May 7, 2026 in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
“They very much support the blockade,” Waltz said, adding that allies shared with him “in a number of ways” how Bessent’s economic campaign is affecting the regime. The pressure campaign, Waltz said, is designed to squeeze Tehran while Trump continues negotiations aimed at preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
On Friday, an unnamed U.S. official told reporters in a briefing: “We do expect to be signing this agreement with Iran over the next few days. We assess it at 85%, but not 100%. We feel very good about the deal. We are not quite at the finish line, but we are very close”
Waltz said, “The UAE, in particular, believes that you have to keep that pressure and a very credible pressure,” he told Fox News Digital. “That’s what the Iranians understand and respond to.”
Waltz said leaders in the region validated U.S. assessments that Iran’s economy is deteriorating under the combined weight of sanctions, military pressure and isolation. He said Iran’s currency is “tanking,” foreign currency reserves are running out, inflation is continuing to rise and the regime is struggling to pay the military, government employees and police.
TRUMP’S ‘ECONOMIC FURY’ SQUEEZES IRAN — BUT CAN TEHRAN OUTLAST THE PRESSURE?
An Emirates aircraft flies past plumes of smoke from a fire near Dubai International Airport in Dubai on March 16, 2026, following missile and drone attacks across the UAE. (AFP/Getty Images)
“I think the regime is going to be increasingly desperate,” Waltz said, adding that Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Scott Bessent, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would use that pressure “to their advantage.”
In the UAE, Waltz met with President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed and the foreign minister, describing the Emiratis as among the most active regional partners against Iran. “There is zero daylight,” Waltz said.
Waltz added the UAE has “both the capability and the will” to act, and said the Emiratis are prepared to take “short-term pain” to achieve the longer-term goal of blocking Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
The UAE has been hit hard during the war. Waltz said the country had taken “by far the most missiles, the most drones, the most hits,” but had moved quickly to repair damage and restore operations.
Aftermath of an Iranian missile strike on a Navy 5th Fleet installation in Bahrain is shown above. (Stringer/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Waltz also pointed to the Abraham Accords as a major factor in the UAE’s posture, saying the country’s growing partnership with Israel has become an “important shift” in the regional alignment against Iran.
Bahrain was another central stop on Waltz’s trip. The country hosts the headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Fleet and has been directly exposed to Iran’s attacks and threats around the Strait of Hormuz.
MIKE WALTZ PUSHES UN RESOLUTION TO STOP IRAN MINING KEY GLOBAL SHIPPING ROUTE
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Michael Waltz speaks at an emergency Security Council meeting on the situation in Iran at United Nations headquarters on Feb. 28, 2026 in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
“Until you go and really sit with them, you can’t appreciate what a strong ally they are,” Waltz said.
He said U.S. and allied teams in Bahrain are working with global shipping companies, local shipping officials, insurance companies and other maritime actors as the U.S. seeks to keep vessels moving through the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most important energy chokepoints.
Waltz accused Iran of making a “phenomenally bad decision” by attacking its neighbors, including hotels, port facilities and energy infrastructure. During one visit to a petroleum site, he said he saw evidence that Iran had targeted fire suppression systems and first responders before striking storage tanks, in an apparent effort to maximize damage.
A billboard depicting Iran’s supreme leaders since 1979: (L to R) Ayatollahs Ruhollah Khomeini (until 1989), Ali Khamenei (until 2026), and Mojtaba Khamenei (incumbent) is displayed above a highway in Tehran on March 10, 2026. Iran marked the appointment of Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei to replace his father as its supreme leader on March 9, 2026. (AFP/Via Getty Images)
“The Iranians were deliberately targeting fire suppression systems,” Waltz said. “They were deliberately targeting first responders first.”
Despite the strikes, Waltz said allied air defenses have had “over a 90% success rate” in shooting down Iranian missiles and drones, with U.S. forces working “hand in glove” with Gulf partners.
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Waltz ended his trip in the United Kingdom, where he said officials have been strong partners at the U.N. Security Council on Iran. He acknowledged “hiccups” and “speed bumps” over basing and access issues, but said many of those concerns had been “smoothed over.”
“When we’re working to keep the Iranians isolated diplomatically,” Waltz said, “they’ve been very good to work with.”
Pope Leo XIV left the Canary Islands for Rome on Friday in a Falcon plane offered by Spanish King Felipe VI after his original aircraft suffered a technical glitch, according to reporters at the scene.
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The flight took off just after 6:00 pm and is expected to arrive in Rome at around 11:00 pm. The pope wrapped up a week-long visit to Spain on Friday.
The pontiff’s departure from Tenerife was delayed earlier on Friday by a technical problem with the plane which led him to disembark, according to an AFP reporter at the scene.
Spain’s King Felipe VI, who had just said goodbye to the pontiff on the runway, boarded the Iberia airline plane and both disembarked and returned to the terminal.
About 80 journalists remained on the jet, along with Vatican officials and members of the clergy.
“The departure of the papal flight has been delayed by half an hour due to a technical problem with the aircraft,” the communications service for the papal trip in Spain said in a brief statement.
The pilot initially told passengers there was a technical fault but later specified a “startup failure of the engine,” which he said was likely caused by wind conditions.
“Our maintenance team suggests towing the aircraft, positioning it into the wind, and attempting a new engine start,” the pilot told those on board.
“We will try this. If it is successful, we can depart.”
The glitch marked an unusual end to an otherwise successful trip to Madrid, Barcelona and the Canary Islands.
Pope Leo XIV pressed his migration message and also inaugurated the new tower of the Sagrada Familia basilica.
It was the first time in decades that a papal flight had experienced a problem so serious that it required the pope to change planes.
Veteran Vatican reporters, some of whom were on the Iberia plane, recalled a few plane-related incidents during the pontificate of St. John Paul II.
During a 1986 return trip from India, John Paul II’s plane was forced to land in Naples because of a snowstorm in Rome. The passengers and pope took a special train back to Rome.
In 1988 en route to Lesotho, bad weather forced the late pope’s plane to land in South Africa, a country he had excluded from his African trip at the time because of apartheid. He was later driven into the kingdom.
Typically on papal trips, the Italian national carrier ITA Airways brings the pope to his destination and that country’s national carrier brings him home, with ITA sometimes doing the round trip if the voyage is particularly long or to a place that doesn’t have the capacity.
The flights are charters, with the pope, Vatican delegation and security occupying the front of the plane and the 70 or so journalists seated in coach.
Iberia had proudly provided video earlier in the trip of Pope Leo XIV seated in the cockpit, smiling broadly as the plane carried him from Madrid to Barcelona and then Barcelona to the Canary Islands.
In both cases, Spanish military aircraft provided an airborne escort, a sign of respect for visiting dignitaries and in one clip of the video the pope is seen waving to the escorting pilot.
Additional sources • AP, AFP
World
War, latest news. Trump: agreement with Iran to be signed soon. Tehran media: approval likely from top officials
Oxfam: ‘Over 540 settler attacks in the West Bank in the first few months of 2026’
A new analysis by Oxfam highlights the exponential rise in attacks by Israeli settlers and military forces in the occupied West Bank: in the first few months of 2026 alone, there were over 540 incidents and “in three years, the number of Palestinian civilians killed has exceeded that of the previous 17 years”, mainly children. According to the report, based on an analysis of data provided by the United Nations, “it is clear that Israel’s annexation plan is accelerating, with mass forced displacements, increased restrictions on Palestinians’ freedom of movement and an unprecedented escalation of violence by settlers and the army”. A plan of ethnic cleansing and annexation that, since 2023, has caused over 46,000 people to be displaced, the construction of over 925 barriers that impede the movement of 3 million people, and an unprecedented wave of violence that has claimed over 1,200 lives, including nearly 270 children. In particular, between 2006 and 2022, Oxfam points out, there were 1,036 victims, including 225 children, whilst since 2023 alone, 1,244 have been recorded, with 268 children killed. This means that, over the last 20 years, one in five killings involved a child, around 22 per cent. By contrast, in the first 17 years under review, 86 Israeli settlers were killed by Palestinians, including 12 children, whilst there were 43 victims, including 10 children, between 2023 and 2025. “The massacre of civilians we are witnessing is painful and disturbing,” said Paolo Pezzati, spokesperson for humanitarian crises at Oxfam Italia – “Whilst the eyes of the world were rightly focused on the genocide committed by Israel in Gaza, following the atrocities committed by Hamas and other armed groups in 2023, an unprecedented wave of violence was unfolding across the West Bank, which has now escalated into a systematic plan of ethnic cleansing. In this context, we are therefore launching an urgent appeal for all necessary diplomatic pressure to be brought to bear on Israel to halt the ongoing annexation plan,” concludes Pezzati.
US: third Iranian oil tanker breaching the blockade neutralised
The US Central Command stated on X that it had intercepted an oil tanker, the third in a week, accused of violating the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. US Central Command says it struck the M/T Jalveer, flying the flag of Guinea-Bissau, “as it attempted to transport oil from Iran through the Gulf of Oman”. “A US aircraft fired two Hellfire missiles at the ship’s engine room after the crew repeatedly refused to obey orders from US forces,” Centcom said.
Meloni: the Council should reflect on the direction of relations between the EU and Israel
“Not only because of what is happening in Lebanon, but also given the situation in Gaza and the West Bank, it is clear that the European Council will need to reflect on the direction of relations between the European Union and Israel.” This was stated by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in the Chamber of Deputies, in her address ahead of the EU Council meeting. “On this,” she added, “I would like, for once, to see a debate here that goes beyond the emphasis on facile polemics, which certainly yields an immediate return in terms of visibility, but does not reflect the strategic importance that the issue holds for Italia.”
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