Ronen Solomon, an Israeli defence analyst, said the former nuclear site was still a critical part of Iran’s nuclear supply chain.
“The [Israeli] idea is to cut the supply of ballistic missiles to use against Israel, and in the end to prevent Iran building a nuclear warhead,” he said.
Mr Solomon said the attack allowed Israel to bypass a veto from the West and Iran on hitting Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities, such as Natanz. “This isn’t a nuclear facility, as Iran… called it a military facility, so that gave Israel a green light to attack it.”
He added: “Israel couldn’t target the enrichment, so it targeted the integration of the missile and the trigger of the bomb for the head of the missile, which is being tested at Taleghan 2.”
Iran’s military has not acknowledged damage at either Khojir or Parchin from Israel’s attack early on Saturday, although it has said the assault killed four Iranian soldiers working in the country’s air-defence systems.