On Wednesday, Iran launched a series of ballistic missiles from a camouflaged underground silo. The tests were part of massive Iranian war games taking place along the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow water choke point from which flows over a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil.

According to Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) aerospace division, this was the first time Iran achieved such a launch.

"During the recent drills, we managed to fire ballistic missiles from deep underground for the first time in the world. In other words, without using launchpads and other conventional equipment, the buried missiles abruptly crack the ground and hit their targets with precision," Hajizadeh said.