Built in an unknown location, the ‘Eagle 44’ site can launch fighter jets and drones
The Iranian Army unveiled a new underground air base on Tuesday. Situated in an undisclosed mountainous location, the base is impervious to bombing and can service, fuel, arm, and launch fighter jets, bombers, and drones.
Video footage of the ‘Oqab 44’ (Eagle 44) facility was shown on Iranian state media, featuring what appears to be an F-4 Phantom fighter-bomber emerging from behind blast doors, before taxiing through a wide tunnel and taking off from an external runway.
The base is equipped with command posts, hangars, maintenance sites, fuel depots, and navigation equipment, Iran’s IRNA news agency reported. The Iranian military has constructed several such sites across the country, IRNA added, noting that while their locations remain a secret, all are built “under the mountains.”
Iran on Tuesday unveiled its first underground air force base, called "Eagle 44", the country’s official news agency IRNA reported."It is one of the army's most important air force bases, with fighters equipped with long-range cruise missiles and built in the depths of earth.” pic.twitter.com/KACSXkljyc
— Iran International English (@IranIntl_En) February 7, 2023
Footage from one of these bases – a drone site named ‘Strategic UAV Base 313’ – was revealed by the Iranian military last year. However, ‘Eagle 44’ is the Islamic Republic’s first underground base capable of hosting fighters and bombers that has been publicly revealed.
“Any attack on Iran from our enemies, including Israel, will see a response from our many air force bases including Eagle 44,” Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Mohammad Bagheri told reporters during a visit to the base on Tuesday.
The unveiling of the base comes at a time of increased tension between Iran and Israel, with Tehran blaming the Israeli military for a drone strike on a military site in the city of Isfahan last month. While Israel neither confirmed or denied its involvement, media reports claimed the attack was masterminded in West Jerusalem, while Ukrainian officials cryptically suggested that the strike was somehow connected to Iran’s alleged supply of ‘kamikaze’ drones to Russia.
Moscow and Tehran have both denied that Iranian drones are being used in Ukraine, with the Kremlin stating that it uses domestically-made UAVs to target Ukrainian military and infrastructure targets.
China has suspended several 2025 export controls on strategic materials — including rare earths, superhard materials, and lithium batteries – for a year. Is this a concession to the US, or a move in a far more complex game?
"The first aim of China’s export controls was to consolidate its leverage in negotiations. The second was to establish a long-term framework for managing such controls," says Yana Leksyutina, deputy director at the Institute of China and Contemporary Asia, Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).
Сhina could activate this mechanism at any moment, and now everyone knows it’s a lever it holds, she explains to Sputnik.
Balancing the Mineral Market
"The moratorium on export bans to the US essentially resets the rare earth market to where it was previously," Jeff J. Brown, author of 'The China Trilogy' and founder of Seek Truth From Facts Foundation, tells Sputnik.
In the meantime, there will be a global rush by the US and its NATO allies to acquire as many rare earth ...
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The impact of the ongoing federal shutdown on the US economy is far worse than expected because it is lasting much longer than anticipated, White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said on Friday.
"The impact on the economy is far worse than we expected, because it's gone on for so long," Hassett told Fox Business. "I think we were thinking that we could have at least 3% [GDP] growth in the fourth quarter. I think now we're expecting something like half that because of the harm [caused] by the Democrats' policy.".......more here
https://sputnikglobe.com/20251107/federal-shutdown-hitting-us-economy-harder-than-expected--white-house-1123074810.html
Dozens of Palestinians, foreign activists, and journalists have been wounded as Israeli army-backed settlers carried out coordinated assaults across the occupied West Bank.
The attacks took place on Saturday, with the biggest number of the casualties, namely 17 people, being caused after settlers raided the outskirts of the Abu Falah village, northeast of the city of Ramallah, the Palestinian Wafa news agency reported. Those injured included foreign activists.
According to the agency, settlers also torched a home, while Israeli forces attacked the area, targeting the residents, who had gathered near the scene. The latter incident, though, did not lead to any casualties.
In another wave of violence, settlers launched attacks on Palestinian farmers, journalists, and foreign activists participating in the annual olive harvest across several towns, leaving many with fractures and bruises.
The attacks were most severe in Beita, south of Nablus, where settlers descended from nearby outposts and ambushed ...
