Iran 's sprawling underground missile bases buried beneath up to five layers of concrete are ready to strike on the outbreak of World War 3 .

Hidden bases housing thousands of missiles are dotted around the Islamic Republic and are constantly on alert.

Opposition groups released previously unseen aerial images revealed the sprawling sites to Daily Star Online.

The largest of the sites is alleged to be the base at Khojir known as Code 7500 with a tunnel around 1,000 metres long packed with missiles.

Pictures inside the bases have previously been revealed by Iranian state media.

Images of the mysterious sites were released in a dossier to this website by the dissident group the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).

It comes amid ongoing fears of war between the US and Iran following the assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and their retaliatory missile attack on US bases.

The NCRI estimate the Iranian regime has ploughed billions of dollars into the bases and its missile programme.

Iranian military forces are said to constructed most of the sprawling tunnel complexes between 1997 and 2002.

However, some of the older sites are believed to date back as far as 1984.

The underground networks are built with the intent of concealing missiles and acting as staging areas for strikes in the Middle East.

Iran does not have the ballistic missile capability to strike the US or Britain, but its reach is estimated to reach as far as Ukraine and they nation have bragged they have "hundreds of missiles" at the ready.

Missile bases are primarily found around the Persian Gulf, but Code 7500 is found just outside Tehran.

It is alleged the Iranian regime used shell companies linked to the Revolutionary Guard a shadowy organisation that included Soleimani to covertly construct the sites.

Pictures released to Daily Star Online by the NCRI show three missile sites and tunnel complexes around Iran.

Images of Khojir show the military base with at least three roads appearing to go burrowing beneath a nearby hillside.

Code 7500 is believed to be the final construction site of the Shahab 3 medium-range missiles.

Imam Ali airbase can be found in western Iran with roads seen disappearing into a mountainside.

And then there is the Lard garrison which is also found in western Iran.

Lar is described by NCRI sources as a sprawling tunnel complex that is highly protected and secure.

It is this complex which is believed to have been featured in the regime propaganda being dubbed the missile city.

Reportedly mobile phone signals are blocked around the highly secretive installation.

Other sites such as the Queshm Missile Centre on the Iranian coast are understood to be hidden under up to five layers of concrete.

Iran has allegedly used the facility to export missiles to their proxy forces in Yemen.

Soleimani was the spider at the centre of the web of these Iranian proxies with US claiming he had the blood of thousands on his hands from his shell attacks.

As well as being covert, the bases are designed to try and survive any onslaught by the US .

NCRI forces said the exact number of missiles in the regimes arsenal remains unknown.

Reports from the Centre for Strategic and Internal Studies (CSIS) describe the Iranian arsenal as the largest and most diverse in the Middle East.

CSIS estimates claim Iran has at least 12 types of operational missiles, with a further four in development.

Missiles have become a central tool of Iranian power projection and anti-accts/area denial capabilities, it said.

It also describes Iran has providing proxy groups with a steady supply of missiles and rockets.

Iranian proxies are believed to have been behind a rocket attack on US forces in Iraq that killed an American defence contractor an act which sparked the latest flurry of tensions.

Fears of war have eased after Trump opted not to respond militarily to the Iranian missiles strikes on US bases in Iraq.

However, he announced a raft of tough new sanctions which are only set to further frustrate the Iranian regime.

Iran has promised a harsher revenge and previously committed to abandoning the nuclear deal completely raises fears they will try to develop a nuke.

The crisis owes its roots to Trumps decision to axe the deal, which traded an ease in sanctions for Tehrans commitment not the develop its nuclear capabilities.

Trump used his first campaign election rally of 2020 to argue that he served up "American justice by blowing up Soleimani.

The US President also defended his decision to act without seeking approval from Congress.

They want us to tell them so they can leak it to their friends in the corrupt media," Trump said.

Vice president Mike Pence said also spoke and boasted Trump deserved credit for ridding the world of a dangerous terrorist.

He said: And when American lives were threatened by the most dangerous terrorist in the world, President Donald Trump took action and Qassem Soleimani is gone.

And in the wake of that attack, Iran responded, but thanks to the professionalism of the military, we suffered no American casualties and Iran appears to be standing down. That's what leadership looks like.

And now the Iran crisis could deepen once again as it is claimed regime forces are behind the downing of Ukrainian airliner PS752 .

Iran finally admitted it accidentally shot down the jet with a ground-to-air missile intended for a US base in Iraq.

The aircraft was "unintentionally" shot down, due to human errors, Iranian state television claimed.

In a TV statement, the Iranian military confirmed that the Boeing 737 was shot down due to human error.

The crash came just hours after Iran had struck the US, and it is feared anti-aircraft missiles may have fired upon the Boeing 737 killing all 176 passengers and crew.

Iran however is insisting the aircraft was not shot down and has invited investigators to probe the wreckage.

Chief investigator Hasan Rezaeifa claimed that "the topics of rocket, missile or anti-aircraft system is ruled out".

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Iran's missile cities buried beneath five layers of concrete ready to strike in WW3 - Daily Star