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Images Show Devastation at Iran Base After Blast
NY Times ^ | November 29, 2011 | WILLIAM J. BROAD

Posted on 11/29/2011 11:31:05 PM PST by neverdem

The large, deadly explosion at an Iran military base in Iran on Nov. 12, which Iranian authorities have called an accident that set back research work there by a few days, appears to have been far more devastating than their description suggested, according to an analysis of newly released commercial satellite images of the blast site.

The images reveal vast destruction and chaotic disarray across a sprawling complex composed of more than a dozen buildings and large structures.

The Institute for Science and International Security, a private group in Washington, made the satellite images public Monday, along with an analysis of the damage. “It was pretty amazing to see that the entire facility was destroyed,” Paul Brannan, the report’s author, said Tuesday in an interview. “There were only a few buildings left standing.”

It was impossible to determine from the images whether the explosion had been a simple accident or an act of sabotage.

The force of the explosion was so great that it shook windows in many surrounding towns, according to Iranian news sites and witnesses quoted at the time. But no photographs of the blast damage were released by the Iranian government, which has become increasingly sensitive about its military capabilities as tensions escalate with the West over its missile and nuclear programs.

The base, set in an isolated patch of Iranian desert ringed by a security cordon, is about 30 miles west of Tehran and three miles west of the town of Bidganeh.

The explosion is already known to have killed 17 members of the armed forces, including a founder of the country’s missile program, Gen. Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, presided over a vast state funeral for General Moghaddam and 16 other members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps two days after...

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Israel; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: dollar; economy; iran; iranexplosion; irannukes; nuclear; oil
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To: 21twelve

Bull crap, it would have been the first bomb in the history of bombs that left no crater. Ground level explosion on concrete pad.


21 posted on 11/30/2011 3:13:15 AM PST by org.whodat (Just another heartless American, hated by "AMNESTY" Newt, Willard, Perry and his fellow supporters.)
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To: mazda77

Good show, to whomever got in there and did the trick. Spectacular. They will win a nice, shiny award, but will never be able to show it off outside of the confines of their organization no doubt. Hip Hip Hooray!


22 posted on 11/30/2011 3:15:12 AM PST by AmericanInTokyo (RINO Establishment's next move: State GOP parties boot conservative candidates from future debates)
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To: expat1000

Does Carl Rove still have his weather machine? Bush didn’t call him a magnificent bastard for nothing...


23 posted on 11/30/2011 3:22:44 AM PST by Dixie Yooper (Ephesians 6:11)
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To: 21twelve

can we say pulse weaponry? hmmmmmm...just break out the hoodoo on the Islamos and tell them God did it through the newly discovered ark of the covenant..on His own...


24 posted on 11/30/2011 3:29:34 AM PST by aces
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To: fso301
An explosion in one building occurred causing sympathetic explosions in other buildings.

Sympathetic explosions of what, in every single other bulding? That doesn't even match the official Iranian position

...saying that it happened while ammunitions were being moved.

25 posted on 11/30/2011 3:32:08 AM PST by expat1000
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To: neverdem
Wow. Amazing amount of damage.

Here's an Israeli reaction:

"Not every explosion over there should be tied to reconnaissance and stories from the movies," Dan Meridor, Israel's minister for intelligence and atomic matters, told Army Radio. Saying, "it isn't right to expand on this topic," Meridor nonetheless went on to acknowledge that espionage has set back Iran's nuclear program. "There are countries who impose economic sanctions and there are countries who act in other ways," Meridor said.

The lack of craters is very curious to me. The "after" picture was apparantly taken ten days after the -- ahh -- "event." The Iranians might have filled in any craters during that time, as a face-saving gesture.

But other, more interesting explanations come to mind as well.

26 posted on 11/30/2011 3:33:23 AM PST by Steely Tom (Obama goes on long after the thrill of Obama is gone)
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To: AmericanInTokyo

There was another one yesterday, reportedly bigger, near Isfahan. Maybe it was their ground fleet of F-14’s that are now ready for the Alcoa recycling plant.


27 posted on 11/30/2011 3:44:20 AM PST by mazda77 (and I am a Native Texan)
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To: aces
"can we say pulse weaponry?"

Or tungsten blade.

28 posted on 11/30/2011 3:56:03 AM PST by StAnDeliver (=)
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To: StAnDeliver

interesting..thanks..


29 posted on 11/30/2011 4:01:20 AM PST by aces
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To: neverdem

High explosives (ammo, my azz) - either missle parts or compression chamber.

Israel loudly rattles the sabre two weeks ago....


30 posted on 11/30/2011 4:03:14 AM PST by StAnDeliver (hmmmm)
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To: neverdem
A commercial satellite image of a military base in Iran taken after a deadly explosion.

Shouldn't that read, "after at least 7 deadly explosions"?
31 posted on 11/30/2011 4:44:45 AM PST by aruanan
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To: 21twelve; org.whodat; Allegra; big'ol_freeper; Lil'freeper; TrueKnightGalahad; blackie; ...
Well I see... what looks like a crater there.

Of course, that may just be... where the outhouse pit was--

32 posted on 11/30/2011 5:09:49 AM PST by Bender2 ("I've got a twisted sense of humor, and everything amuses me." RAH Beyond this Horizon)
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To: John Valentine

Indeed.

1) Separate explosions with radial debris fields

2) NO noticable cratering.

Hmmmmmmmm.

Busy bees at work.......... :-)


33 posted on 11/30/2011 5:24:36 AM PST by roaddog727 (It's the Constitution, Stupid!)
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To: Steely Tom
"Not every explosion over there should be tied to reconnaissance and stories from the movies," Dan Meridor

haaahaaaahaahaahaaahaa. Danny boy, you are da man!

Yup, it blowed up real good!

34 posted on 11/30/2011 5:33:14 AM PST by bkopto (Obama is merely a symptom of a more profound, systemic disease in American body politic.)
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To: neverdem
It was impossible to determine from the images whether the explosion had been a simple accident or an act of sabotage.


35 posted on 11/30/2011 5:43:51 AM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going)
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To: Bender2
No, not big enough, to cause that kind of damage it would be a big damn hole.
36 posted on 11/30/2011 6:09:10 AM PST by org.whodat (Just another heartless American, hated by "AMNESTY" Newt, Willard, Perry and his fellow supporters.)
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To: neverdem

Hey, the soccer field is still there...


37 posted on 11/30/2011 6:19:06 AM PST by John123 (US$ - I owe you nothing. Euro - Who owes you nothing.)
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To: VeniVidiVici

All your base are belong to us


38 posted on 11/30/2011 6:23:07 AM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going)
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To: mazda77
35°37′29.68″N 50°52′33.10″E Nope - 8.7 miles NORTH of this location
39 posted on 11/30/2011 6:27:42 AM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going)
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To: mazda77

Is it really wise to put these BULL’s eyes on the ground??

33 46’ 35”
51 50’ 41”


40 posted on 11/30/2011 6:35:18 AM PST by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going)
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