CaliToday (24/9/2025): Satellite imagery analyzed by The Associated Press shows Iran has begun rebuilding missile launch sites targeted by Israel during their 12-day war in June. However, a critical component may still be missing: the large, specialized mixers required to produce solid rocket fuel.
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| This satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows reconstruction efforts at Iran's Parchin solid propellant plant outside of Tehran, Iran, Aug. 28, 2025. (Planet Labs PBC via AP) |
The reconstruction of the missile program is crucial for the Islamic Republic, which believes another war with Israel could be imminent. The missiles represent one of Iran's few remaining military deterrents after the war devastated its air defense systems a capability Tehran has long insisted would never be included in negotiations with the West.
Missile experts told the AP that acquiring the mixers is a key objective for Tehran, especially as it prepares for the potential snapback of United Nations sanctions later this month. Those sanctions would penalize any development of the missile program, among other measures. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian is scheduled to address the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday.
Known as planetary mixers, these machines feature blades that rotate around a central point, much like orbiting planets, allowing for more effective mixing than other types of equipment. Iran could potentially purchase them from China, where experts and U.S. officials say it has previously sourced rocket fuel components and other parts.
"If they can reacquire some key things like planetary mixers, then that infrastructure is still there and ready to go back online," said Sam Lair, a research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies who has studied Iran's missile sites.
Iran's mission to the United Nations did not respond to questions about its efforts to rebuild its missile program.
Israeli Strikes Targeted Solid-Fuel Sites
Solid-fuel missiles can be fired more quickly than those using liquid fuel, which must be fueled immediately before launch. That speed can be the difference between launching a missile and having it destroyed on its launchpad something that occurred during the war with Israel.
Iran has solid-fuel missile production facilities at Khojir and Parchin, two sites just outside Tehran, as well as in Shahroud, about 350 kilometers (215 miles) northeast of the capital. Even before the most recent war, all these sites had been struck by Israel in October 2024 during a period of conflict between the two nations.
According to experts, the strikes during the June war appeared aimed at destroying buildings that housed the mixers, which are essential for ensuring rocket propellant is evenly mixed. Other sites hit by Israel included production facilities likely used to build the mixers themselves.
Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC taken this month and analyzed by the AP show construction activity at both the Parchin and Shahroud facilities. At Parchin, mixer buildings appear to be under repair, Lair said, and similar reconstruction is underway at Shahroud, including mixer buildings and other structures. The speed of Iran's reconstruction effort signals the importance Tehran places on its missile program. In contrast, Iran's bombed nuclear sites have not yet seen a similar level of activity.
During the war, Iran fired 574 ballistic missiles at Israel, according to the Washington-based Jewish Institute for National Security of America, an organization with close ties to the Israeli military. In two conflicts preceding the war, Iran launched an additional 330 missiles, the research group said. The Israeli military estimates Iran's total arsenal at around 2,500 missiles, meaning over a third of its stock has been launched.
Before the war, Iran was on track to produce more than 200 solid-fuel missiles per month, according to Carl Parkin, a summer fellow at the James Martin Center. This capacity likely drew the Israeli attacks on the missile-building facilities.
"Israel's targeting suggests they believed that missile mixing was a bottleneck in Iran's missile production," he said. "If Iran can overcome its missile mixing limitations, it will have the necessary casting capacity to begin producing in large numbers again."
The Israeli military declined to answer questions about its strategy. Iran's Defense Minister, Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh, recently claimed Tehran now has new missiles with more advanced warheads. "The 12-day war with Israel changed some of our priorities," he stated on Aug. 22. "Currently, we are focusing on producing military equipment with higher precision and better operational capabilities."
Chinese Mixers Seen at Iranian-Linked Syrian Missile Site
Iran will likely choose to rely on China for mixers and the chemicals needed to produce solid fuel. These same chemicals may have been responsible for a massive explosion in April that killed at least 70 people at an Iranian port. Iran has yet to explain the blast, which occurred as its diplomats were meeting with Americans in Oman about its nuclear program. Just days after the explosion, the U.S. State Department sanctioned Chinese firms it said had supplied the Islamic Republic with "ballistic missile propellant components."
Meanwhile, Iran's Revolutionary Guard may have already supplied a planetary mixer to an underground ballistic missile facility in Syria near the town of Masyaf, about 170 kilometers (105 miles) north of Damascus. Footage released by the Israeli military months after a September 2024 raid on the facility showed the mixer, which resembles others sold online by Chinese companies.
The Iranian president and military officials visited Beijing earlier this month for China’s Victory Day parade. The Iranian government offered no details on what Pezeshkian told Chinese President Xi Jinping, and Chinese state media gave no indication Tehran had asked for help.
China’s Foreign Ministry, when asked about potentially supplying mixers and fuel ingredients to Tehran, told the AP that Beijing is "willing to continue to leverage its influence to contribute to peace and stability in the Middle East."
Can Kasapoğlu, a senior fellow at the Washington-based Hudson Institute, said Beijing could also provide guidance systems and microprocessors for Iran’s ballistic missiles. "If Iran uses its China connection to bolster its disruptive military capabilities, the 12-day war might have been just a speed bump for the Iranian regime, not a decisive defeat," he wrote.
Analyst Lair said if Iran restarts production at its pre-war levels, the sheer number of missiles produced would make it difficult for Israel to destroy or shoot them down preemptively. "It's clear that they're very invested in their missile program, and I don't think that they're going to negotiate it away," he said.
