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Israeli Strike? Explosions reported near Iranian missile base

Local residents reported hearing a ‘terrible sound’ at around 10 pm Monday night, fueling speculation of Israeli strike.

By World Israel News Staff

Residents of the western Iranian city of Khorramabad reported hearing an explosion late Monday night, local media outlets reported.

Despite initial claims that an earthquake had taken place, later reports said the noises were not the result of an earthquake.

Iranian authorities did not confirm or deny that an explosion had taken place and said that the incident was being investigated.

The Imam Ali base, one of Iran’s two underground ballistic missile silos housing Shahab-3 missiles reportedly capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and reaching Israel, is situated about 22 miles from the city.

Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency reported “strong shocks accompanied by a terrible sound caused tremors in parts of the city of Khorramabad, causing panic and disrupting the peace of the people at night” at about 10 p.m. Monday.

Some counter-terror specialists suggested this may have been a successful Mossad strike against the Islamic Republic’s missile base.

“A successful sabotage operation of Israel Intelligence (Mossad) has resulted in an explosion in the fuel storage facility of Imam Ali ballistic missile base of IRGC Aerospace Force near Khorramabad, West of Iran. The attack is probably conducted by means of bomb-laden quadcopters flown by Mossad’s drone teams in Iran,” wrote an Israel Hayom’s Iran expert.

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Israel considers the Iranian regime as its biggest threat and has repeatedly warned that it will take military action to prevent the Islamic Republic from developing nuclear weapons.

Last Friday, Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed the United Nations General Assembly, saying that the “tyrants of Iran” have been nothing but a curse since the last time he addressed the General Assembly in 2018, but that “Iran’s threat has also brought Israel and the Arab world together.”

Netanyahu told the biblical story of Moses separating the Israelites between two mountains, with one dedicated to blessings and the other to curses. He held up a map of the Middle East and a red pen, and noted that in 2018, he demonstrated with those same props how Iran was threatening the region.

That curse has turned into a blessing, as normalization agreements between Israel and the Arab world proliferate, creating “a new Middle East,” Netanyahu said.

He noted that the “so-called experts” had predicted that the sorts of peace already achieved in the Abraham Accords would be impossible without Israel first reconciling with the Palestinians.

“I’ve long sought to make peace with the Palestinians,” Netanyahu said. But the Palestinians shouldn’t have a veto over Israeli peace efforts with the rest of the Arab world, he said. “The Palestinians can benefit from a broader peace.”

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“The Abraham Accords were a pivot of history,” and the whole world is reaping the benefits of the Accords, Netanyahu added. A looming peace between Israel and Saudi Arabia will have long-reaching implications, including encouraging other Arab nations to normalize relations with Israel, he predicted.

“All these are tremendous blessings,” he said.

Israel can become a “bridge of prosperity” and can help create a “new Middle East,” he added. “Peace can only be achieved if it’s based on truth,” and not on demonizing Israel, Netanyahu said.

As long as Netanyahu is in power, he said he will do all he can to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons he said, and called for “snapping back” sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

He called Iran “a fly in the ointment,” extending its tentacles of terrorism throughout the world.

“They even tried to assassinate the secretary of state of the United States of America. They even tried to assassinate the national security advisor of the United States of America,” Netanyahu said, as the U.N. camera panned to empty Iranian seats in the room.

“This tells you all that you need to know about Iran’s murderous intentions and Iran’s murderous nature,” Netanyahu said.

The Israeli prime minister called the oppressed Iranian people the true partners in peace.