Iranian Missile Commander Describes Life and Launches Inside Missile Tunnels

Since Khordad 1404, when the Twelve-Day War began, and then the Forty-Day War, not for a single day were our missile tunnels empty of missiles, or of the personnel who spend their days and nights here.

In this episode of *Bedoon-e Ta'arof*, we'll revisit some of their memories.

One of the commanders of the missile launch platforms.

It's an honor. Bless you. How old are you?

Thirty-five. How is life for you in these tunnels?

During the Ramadan War, many of our comrades, friends, and colleagues were here. Some, because of the responsibilities they had, spent a full twenty-five days inside this tunnel, and they spend their days and nights here.

Look, from your food and drink to what you might call the living conditions the guys have here, to their prayers and worship.

Our Lord, do not let our hearts deviate after You have guided us, and grant us mercy from Your presence. You are indeed the Bestower.

Sometimes during the Ramadan War, we had so many tasks, There were actually so many consecutive shots one after another that the guys didn't even have time to rest at their quarters.

There were many times when our guys while they were preparing would rest under a missile, or lean back in a chair for a few minutes and pass out from exhaustion.

We had guys who had no idea how their families were doing.

One of our friends, one of our colleagues, lost his father during those very days and even by the seventh day after his father's burial, he still couldn't attend the funeral.

It's hard, of course. The circumstances are tough.

Let's not pretend otherwise. We bear it. Why?

Let me briefly explain. Look, when our single guys— the married guys would say, 'Sir, you stay inside, we'll go out.'

I mean, the guys really put themselves forward to defeat imperialism.

I mean, perhaps into enemy fire. Yes, yes.

This happened repeatedly, and we had a number of our martyrs…

They were martyred beside these launch pads.

We have to say it. There are even images showing these young men under fighter jets and drones standing firm, in fact, resisting and engaging in a one-on-one duel, a hand-to-hand battle where, as our launch pad is hit, within a very short time, just a few minutes,

the launch pad right next to it the one, in fact, that was hit fires.

And the secret to our victory, our code name, is Ya Zahra.

During the war, these missile cities repeatedly came under bombardment. Yes.

But, for example, I can see the tunnels here are intact.

What about the other places? At most, they might drop a bomb in front of a tunnel entrance.

But, thank God, praise be to God, thanks to the precautions taken in advance, neither the tunnels nor our missiles were damaged.

So everything is intact, and the missiles too— Thank God.

Some people might be worried, sir, that we might run out of missiles, that we might not have enough.

Many of these missile sites were hit by bunker-buster bombs, in fact.

A lot of them didn't detonate. It's interesting to know that the bomb disposal teams who came to actually defuse them found that on the rear end of the missile, its production date was marked 2026.

What does that mean? They've scraped the bottom of the barrel.

Meaning, straight from production to use.

What about us? Our—our time was up. I can confidently tell you, sir, we went in with missiles from the eighties and nineties.

That's really no exaggeration. This is the Zalzaleh now. This missile is the Zalzaleh.

Did you use these, too? Yes, we used them repeatedly.

And that's our old generation, too. It's our old generation.

I mean, the first— but highly destructive.

With a warhead of about one ton and, in fact, the power— Those Kheibar Shekans and such, they tore them to shreds— The Kheibar Shekan's story is beyond telling.

The Kheibar Shekan missile— Fattah and— This Fattah missile that was just unveiled.

Man, look. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Whoa, he's caught, he's caught.

Or is it really great news? Look. Wow. Wow, look. Wow. Wow, wow, wow, look.

When they say we have missiles, now we have equipment that...

You still don't know about it or recognize it, right?

Sir, that's absolutely right. We're Iranian.

We're followers of Ali, the Commander of the Faithful, and we believe that if we say something, there really has to be honesty in— Sir, if there's something at the end of this tunnel, take us there and show us.

Your wish is my command.

We are devoted to these people, ready to lay down our lives for them.

We're ready to lay down our lives for our dear Iran, and we're proud to serve these people.

Your income is really high, especially during wartime?

All these guys who came here are capable people who, if perhaps they hadn't entered this field, would have been financially secure.

But what makes someone take a salary— Honestly, you don't even know what to say.

So, it's basically an office-worker's salary?

It's really an office job. Mr. Rezvani, among our own boys, among our own martyrs, we had a martyr who wrote in his will, “Of all my worldly possessions, I have a motorcycle.”

“If I’m martyred, sell my motorcycle and donate the money to the IRGC Aerospace Force.”

Yes, there was a— They feel indebted to them.

Good for you, damn it. Mashallah, what courage and dedication.

Don’t even spend the money from this cigarette.

You’re damn right, you really are Iranian.

We swore by Allah, under this flag. And, well, these days, when the enemy is making threats and saying all sorts of strange things and so on, how prepared are we these days?

We’re much more prepared than before. And many of these unveilings we still haven’t held.

God willing, we’re going to show them in action.

You mean the new missiles being talked about?

New-generation missiles with much more powerful warheads and—above and beyond what we have?

Far beyond what we can imagine. Yes. We’re very brief.

Give our regards to all your friends. Tell them, “Good work.”

May you always live long and prosper. Stay well. Ya Ali Madad.

We were happy to see you, dear. Let’s go see the very dry one together, too.

This is ready and operational now, right?

This is fully operational and that sort of thing, that kind of thing.