Iran reveals large number of self-destructing naval drones in underground ‘missile city’

Iran’s military has shown off a number of naval suicide bombers, which it uses to block the vital Strait of Hormuz, in chilling images taken from an underground “village”.

Pictures taken by Iranian state media are said to show underground tunnels filled with naval drones, anti-ship missiles, and sea mines, with dramatic footage showing some of them being detonated.

Experts analyzed the video, released by the Iranian news agency Fars, telling CNN exactly what was shown.

The full list of displayed armory includes:

• Abadil-2/3 “kamikaze” drones: Displayed on rail launches inside tunnels, these are designed for one-way lethal strikes on ship sensors and large structures.
• Shahed-136 drones: Primarily a land attack aircraft, but the naval versions shown inside the tunnel can be mounted on fast attack boats or on hidden launch sites to target coastal infrastructure and tanks.
• Zolfaqar drones: Small autonomous boats, loaded with explosives designed to immobilize large ships.
• Ghadir anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCM): Long-range cruise missiles with a range of 190 miles, which are pointed at the truck drivers inside the tunnels.
• Nasr-1 (ASCM): Short-range, high-precision missiles designed for coastal defense, capable of being launched from speedboats or stealth vehicles.
• Khalij Fars (ASCM): Quasi-ballistic anti-ship missiles that Iran says can hit targets at sea using an electro-optical seeker.
• Maham sea mines: Acoustic/magnetic influence mines, usually placed under the sea, which can be detonated without direct contact, just by detecting the physical signatures of passing ships.
• Sadaf-02 sea mines: Contact mines are often shown being loaded onto human-style ships, or speedboats.

“We have underwater missiles, and their speed is 100 meters per second, and we may use them in the coming days,” Brigadier General Ali Fadavi, Deputy Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), told state television on Wednesday.

The regime in Tehran has threatened to use nuclear weapons to cripple the global economy and send oil prices to $200 a barrel.

Iran has also threatened to turn the Persian Gulf red with the “blood of invaders” if the US and Israel do not end their airstrikes in the country.

“Any attack on the soil of the Iranian islands will destroy our self-restraint. We will stop all restraint and make the Persian Gulf run with the blood of the invaders,” said the speaker of the Iranian parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf.

This is not the first time the Islamic State has highlighted its underground “missile city”.

In January and February 2025, the IRGC also held a series of major “reveals”, including its “strategic missile base” on the Gulf Coast, Kurdish Outlet Channel 8 reported at the time.

The video also highlighted large areas of autonomous drone boats, hundreds of cruise and ballistic missiles—including Ghadr-380—based mobile missiles, and sophisticated sea mine stacks ready to be deployed in the Strait of Hormuz.

The first mention of Iran’s “missile city” was in March 2021, when the IRC released a video showing rows upon rows of missiles and electronic warfare devices, as reported by the Jerusalem Post at the time.

The IRGC said it had built a base underground to protect it from naval bombardment.

By Post cables.