MOSCOW, March 2. /TASS/. The underground depots of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) have proven resistant to weapons used by the United States and Israel, Alexander Stepanov, a military expert at the Institute of Law and National Security at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), told TASS.

"The IRGC's underground depots have indeed proven invulnerable to all types of weapons used by both the US and Israel," he noted.

According to Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, Commander of the IRGC Aerospace Forces, the Iranian military has distributed its missile arsenal across multiple cities in Iran and is storing it at a depth of 500 meters. Stepanov noted that even the American GBU-57 bunker buster bomb cannot reach Iran’s underground depots, as it is designed for a depth of up to 18 meters.

Moreover, he added, Iran’s storage facilities are located in rock formations that are not inferior to fortified military infrastructure. "It is quite possible that the long-term underground strategic arsenals are invulnerable even to nuclear weapons. This suggests that the extensive underground infrastructure currently provides the very foundation for successful retaliatory strikes by Tehran," the expert noted.

According to Stepanov, this may indicate that Iran has been stockpiling missile weapons throughout the last phase of the country’s military-industrial sector development, including missiles of various modifications and several stages of upgrading. These include, in particular, the solid-fueled Kheibar Shekan medium-range ballistic missile and the Fattah-2 hypersonic missile.

"The destruction of military facilities not only with American but also with European presence testifies to Tehran’s large-scale and effective measures to protect its sovereignty," the expert concluded.

The United States and Israel launched a large-scale military operation against Iran on February 28. Major Iranian cities, including Tehran, were struck. The White House justified the attack by citing alleged missile and nuclear threats from Iran. At the same time, US leadership openly called on the Iranian population to rise up against their government and seize power.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced a retaliatory operation, targeting sites in Israel. US military bases in Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia were also hit.

Countries in the region are closing their airspace, and airlines are suspending flights.