Iran built Eagle 44 so that its warplanes could ride out an air war inside a mountain. In 2026, the mountain got its test. Now satellite images suggest the diggers never really stopped.

Imagery taken by Planet Labs on 29 September 2026 and published by The War Zone on 22 October shows the main runway at Eagle 44, also known as Oghab 44, cleared of the obstacles that had blocked it, a new section of taxiway finished and the next one under construction. Craters, wrecked support buildings and scorch marks from at least three waves of strikes this year are still visible.

For an air force that, according to U.S. Central Command, has stopped flying combat sorties altogether, Iran is putting a lot of effort into a base built for exactly that.

What the September imagery shows

According to The War Zone’s analysis, the runway on the valley floor north of the mountain, previously blocked with mounds, is clear again. A new section of the western taxiway is complete, and the next segment has a compacted dirt base waiting for paving. Militarnyi, reporting the same imagery, notes that only one of the two taxiways linking the runway to the tunnels currently appears usable.

The damage has not all been fixed. Impact craters near the western tunnel entrances remain, two dark streaks on the eastern taxiway look like wreckage bulldozed off the pavement, and of three support buildings that were hit, two are destroyed and a third is damaged, with no sign of rebuilding. The four tunnel entrances, in two pairs at the ends of the taxiways, appear intact, but the angle of the imagery makes it impossible to tell whether they are open or sealed.

Iran reveals Eagle 44 in February 2023 (i24NEWS English).

A base unveiled with a warning

Iranian state media first showed Eagle 44 in February 2023, with F-4 Phantoms of the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force parked in long tunnels and armed with Maverick missiles, bombs and domestic anti-ship missiles. The armed forces chief of staff, Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri, attended the unveiling.

Bagheri was killed in the opening strikes of the Twelve-Day War in June 2025. Construction of the tunnel complex had begun in 2013, and the base is named for the 44th anniversary of the 1979 revolution.

Three waves of strikes in 2026

When the United States and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury on 28 February 2026, low-resolution imagery through mid-March showed little visible damage at Eagle 44. In late March, The New York Times reported that the base had been hit again with greater effect: craters on the taxiways, a building flattened and mounds placed across the runway. The report did not say whose aircraft carried out the strike.

U.S. Central Command struck again on 15 July, and the open-source analysts of Soar Atlas identified four aimpoints the next day. The Pentagon has never publicly named the base as a target, and Iran has not acknowledged the strikes.

Why rebuild a base for an air force that is not flying?

The question hangs over the imagery. CENTCOM’s commander has said Iran’s air force no longer flies combat sorties at all.

The Iranian Air Force had roughly 60 F-4s when Eagle 44 was unveiled; how many remain, and how many can fly, is unknown. But a hardened mountain base can also store drones and possibly missiles, and Iran appears to be betting that what is inside the mountain will matter again. The repaired runway is the clearest sign yet that, for Tehran, Eagle 44 is not finished.

Sources: The War Zone (22 Oct 2026; Planet Labs imagery), Militarnyi, The New York Times (as cited by TWZ), Soar Atlas, France 24, Iranian state media (2023)