Iran is rebuilding Eagle 44, a hardened underground airbase carved into the Zagros Mountains, despite absorbing at least three rounds of airstrikes this year. High-resolution satellite imagery captured by Planet Labs in late September and reviewed by The War Zone shows a new section of taxiway completed, wrecked equipment cleared off the pavement, and obstacles that were placed to obstruct the runway now removed.
Construction is ongoing at a time when the Pentagon and Trump administration maintain there is little remaining of the Iranian air force for such a facility to protect. The facility sits in Hormozgan province, approximately 100 miles northwest of the Strait of Hormuz, and is operated by the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force rather than the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force.
Iranian state media described the installation as one of the army's most important air force bases when it was unveiled in February 2023. Then-Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri warned at the time that any attack on Iran from enemies including Israel would see a response from air force bases including Eagle 44. Bagheri was eliminated in the opening strikes of the Twelve-Day War, which Israel dubbed Operation Rising Lion, in June 2025.
Work on the cavernous underground tunnel complex began in 2013. Construction of a 2.7-mile main runway, situated on the northern side of the base on a valley floor below the mountain range, started roughly eight years later.