PEJOURNAL – An explosion took place in a gas tank in the east of Tehran on the outskirts of one of the military bases last Friday morning. Following the incident in the early hours of the morning, there were speculations that some of these questions and speculations were answered with the explanation of Ministry of Defense spokesman regarding the cause of the accident. He said the blast was caused by an accident at a gas tank in the Parchin area, which was immediately stopped by firefighters, and the fire was contained without any casualties.
But from the other side, this incident provided an opportunity for the Iranian opposition media to raise suspicions in this regard. One of the issues raised in these media was the focus on the explosion in the Khajir region. The media claimed that the explosion took place at the ballistic missile production center at the Shahid Bakeri Industrial Group, while Defense Ministry officials clearly denied the allegations in their reports.
The name “Parchin” has been in the focus of foreign media attention since 2003 on the sidelines of Iran’s nuclear talks with the P5 + 1 but following the explosion, the Iran opposition media are seeking ambiguity and suspicion by reproducing the keyword Parchin abusing an ordinary incident.
The ridiculous allegation of an explosion in the underground tunnels for the production and maintenance of missiles after the publication of a video report and full explanations from the site of the explosion of the gas tank by Iran shows that the dissident media has two goals, including hitting Iran’s sensitive military industries and weakening Iran’s deterrent missile power.
In the other hand, some media affiliated with the Zionist Israeli regime have gone beyond and linked the explosion to the regime’s cyber attack against Iran.
In response to suspicions raised by the opposition media, an informed military official told that the available images, as well as satellite images released by the media claiming to have been detonated at the missile facility, showed burns to the vegetation around the exploding gas tank.
Referring to the compatibility of satellite images with the location announced by Iran, he added: “How can an explosion occur underground, but without creating a hole on the ground, it can cause vegetation burns.” The military official said the video report and published photos clearly showed a limited and ground-based explosion and had nothing to do with the alleged missile production centres in the underground tunnels. He concluded: “The exploded gas tank was manually controlled and recharged, and there was basically no possibility of a cyber attack on it.”
At the same time, it should not be overlooked that due to US efforts to extend Iran’s arms embargo and bring other countries to the polls, focusing on the Parchin region and pointing to missile tunnels is one way to engage public opinion. And gaining the political support of other countries to continue sanctions against Iran.
However, all the reports of the International Monitoring Center indicate Iran’s commitment to international obligations and avoidance of the production of unconventional weapons, and suggesting such untrue issues are a sign of the inability of the United States to prove its false claims to condemn Iran.