Iran is building underground military complexes able to keep producing and storing weapons even under heavy bombardment, according to the country's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). IRGC spokesperson Hossein Mohebbi made the announcement at a news conference in Tehran on Saturday, Iranian media reported.

Source: Al Jazeera

Among the achievements listed was an "underground missile city" set to be unveiled, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported. Mohebbi said the IRGC had rapidly transferred its missile and drone production lines from the surface to underground facilities.

That shift, he said, allows Iran to continue producing missiles even while its adversaries assumed its stockpiles were dwindling.

Stealth and homegrown weapons — claims that cannot be checked

Mohebbi also outlined what he described as advances in stealth technology, and claimed they had allowed Iran's missiles and drones to pierce air defence systems and accurately strike targets during previous rounds of fighting with the United States and Israel. Those claims have not been independently verified.

"Today, every weapon used by the IRGC Aerospace Force is manufactured using homegrown knowledge and expertise. Moreover, our products are not even derived from reverse-engineering captured enemy war material," Iran's IRNA news agency quoted Mohebbi as saying.

Source: IRNA via Al Jazeera

The Al Jazeera report also pointed to outside reporting on the damage Iran has inflicted: a Wall Street Journal report says Iran caused billions of dollars in damage to US bases throughout the Middle East during previous rounds of fighting, while a Reuters investigation found that Iran had successfully targeted Gulf infrastructure on at least 135 occasions during the same period, causing billions of dollars in damage and lost revenues.

War context: Qeshm strikes, Hormuz and the US land task force

The US-Israeli war on Iran was launched on February 28, prompting Tehran to close the Strait of Hormuz and triggering a global energy crisis. Mediation efforts have stepped up recently, as regional countries hope to bring the war to an end. On Friday, President Donald Trump said the US military had launched limited strikes on Iran's Qeshm Island, while also claiming Washington had made "a lot of progress" in talks with Iran.

On Saturday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) also announced Task Force Iron Gate, a new unit that will support US efforts to prevent Iran from using land routes to transport advanced weapons and other materials. Tehran has repeatedly warned that it will target Gulf energy infrastructure if the fighting resumes — a threat that hangs over the lakhs of Indian and Punjabi workers who live and work across the Gulf. Read about Task Force Iron Gate

Mohebbi also warned on Saturday that restrictions on the range of Iranian missiles had been lifted, following a statement from Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei that there would be "no geographical limits" to Iran's response if it were attacked again by the US and Israel — a development already reported separately. What happens next: no date has been given for the unveiling of the "underground missile city", and mediation continues while both sides prepare for the possibility that the fighting resumes.