Parchin, Iran

Mystery explosion: Something blew up at an Iranian missile facility last week, sending a massive fireball shooting into the air and lighting up the night sky over Tehran. Authorities said the blast was from an industrial gas tank in a civilian area, but satellite images show that the explosion occurred at a missile production facility in Parchin once linked to Iran’s nuclear program. A cover-up seems likely: Iranian reporters were shown a gas tank with a small hole that was not credible as the source of such a huge blast. The explosion happened at the same time that a separate military site in Shiraz experienced a massive power outage, and Iranian social media immediately bubbled up with conspiracy theories, claiming that the two events were the result of Israeli or U.S. attacks. American and Israeli intelligence officials denied responsibility.