Iran carried out secret test launch while rebuilding missile production plants

Per AP, a launchpad was photographed at the facility, painted in the colours of the Iranian flag and bearing scorch marks similar to those seen after previous launches.

Fabian Hinz, a research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, told the outlet that the marks suggest Tehran launched a solid-fuel missile using aluminium oxide.

Neither the regime nor state TV acknowledged the alleged launch, but one member of the country's parliament claimed publicly that there had been a test of an intercontinental ballistic missile earlier this month.

However, the facilities still appear to lack the large mixers needed to produce solid fuel for the weapons.

Missile experts told AP that Tehran wants to obtain the mixers, particularly as it prepares for the possibility that UN snapback sanctions will be reimposed. The measures would include punishment for any development of the regime's missile program.

The mixers are critical for high-volume, efficient missile production. Iran has previously sourced planetary mixers from China, although it is unclear if they have done so since the June war.

Before the war, Iran was capable of producing more than 200 solid-fuel missiles per month, and had an estimated arsenal of about 2,500 missiles. Over a third of its arsenal was fired at Israel during and prior to the conflict.

“If they’re able to reacquire some key things like planetary mixers, then that infrastructure is still there and ready to get rolling again,” Sam Lair of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies told AP.