{"id":24090,"date":"2025-06-23T07:27:48","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T07:27:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/?p=24090"},"modified":"2025-07-03T07:45:32","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T07:45:32","slug":"why-us-must-destroy-irans-fordow-nuclear-facility-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cissar.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/23\/why-us-must-destroy-irans-fordow-nuclear-facility-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Why US must destroy Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility now"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

Iran threatening Gulf allies to deter US, defense expert says<\/a><\/h4>\n

Foundation for Defense of Democracy CEO Mark Dubowitz joins ‘Fox & Friends’ to discuss Iran’s weapons capability and Israel’s defense system.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
NEW<\/span>You can now listen to Fox News articles!<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Beneath the rugged face of Mount Alvand near the religious city of Qom lies the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant\u2014an underground stronghold and centerpiece of Iran\u2019s nuclear ambitions.<\/a> Though presented as a civilian facility, Fordow is widely believed by Israeli intelligence to be the probable heart of Tehran\u2019s covert atomic weapons effort.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

For years, the Islamic Republic has played a dangerous game\u2014enriching uranium just below weapons-grade, obstructing International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) oversight, and using regional instability as a shield for its ambitions. While Israel has confronted nuclear threats before, it lacks the bunker-busting capability to neutralize Fordow. That responsibility now falls to the United States. The case for destroying Fordow is not only strong\u2014it is urgent.<\/p>\n

Fordow: The Core of Iran\u2019s Nuclear Calculus<\/strong><\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s nuclear infrastructure includes various sites: Natanz, which is more exposed; Arak, partly repurposed; and Esfahan and Parchin, both key research locations. But Fordow stands apart. It is buried under nearly 80 meters of rock and hosts advanced IR-6 centrifuges capable of enriching uranium at accelerated rates. The site is engineered to survive conventional airstrikes and represents Iran\u2019s strategic bet on invulnerability.<\/p>\n

ONLY THE US MILITARY CAN TAKE OUT IRAN\u2019S \u2018MOST DANGEROUS\u2019 NUCLEAR SITE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Western intelligence exposed Fordow in 2009 after years of concealment. Prime Minister\u00a0Netanyahu<\/a> warned that Iran\u2019s leaders “have backed up their genocidal rhetoric with a nuclear weapons program,” and cautioned, “if not stopped, Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in a very short time. It could be a year. It could be within a few months, less than a year.” While he told\u00a0Business Insider that Israel\u2019s strike hit “the core of Iran\u2019s nuclear weaponization infrastructure,” he acknowledged that Israel “lacks the heavy bunker-busting munitions” needed to destroy sites like Fordow.<\/p>\n

\n

Fordow is not just another enrichment site\u2014it is a fortified monument to Iran\u2019s deception and determination. The United States alone has the tools and reach to destroy it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

IAEA Director General Rafael\u00a0Grossi <\/a>confirmed in 2024 that Iran now possesses enough uranium enriched to 60%\u2014a technical heartbeat away from weapons-grade levels\u2014to build several nuclear devices. He warned that the\u00a0IAEA<\/a> lacked sufficient transparency in Iran\u2019s nuclear activities and cautioned that “without full Iranian cooperation, the agency cannot verify that its program is peaceful.”<\/p>\n

A Pattern of Deception\u2014and Alarm<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2018, Mossad operatives seized 55,000 documents from a Tehran warehouse revealing a covert nuclear weapons program known as “Project Amad.” David\u00a0Albright<\/a> of the Institute for Science and International Security assessed the material as “clear evidence that Iran intended to produce five nuclear weapons.”<\/p>\n

IAEA CHIEF CALLS ISRAELI PRESIDENT, REPORTEDLY SAYS IRAN NUCLEAR FACILITY WAS SEVERELY DAMAGED<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Despite the JCPOA framework, Iran continues nuclear-related activity at undeclared sites\u2014Turquzabad, Marivan, and Varamin\u2014where IAEA inspectors have found traces of nuclear material without explanation. These discoveries point to a sustained weapons agenda.<\/p>\n

In 2023, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi\u00a0Halevi<\/a> warned that “negative developments regarding Iran\u2019s nuclear program” could compel Israel to act. His predecessor, Lt. Gen. Aviv\u00a0Kochavi<\/a>, was more blunt: “Iran today has enough enriched material to produce four nuclear bombs, three at 20 percent and one at 60 percent.”<\/p>\n

Despite the threat, Israel cannot strike Fordow effectively. As Israeli Ambassador Yechiel\u00a0Leiter <\/a>admitted, “We may be able to strike Natanz, but we cannot reach Fordow without American support.”<\/p>\n

How the U.S. Would Strike\u2014and Why It Must<\/strong><\/p>\n

The U.S. military possesses the capability to neutralize Fordow. The\u00a0GBU-57A\/B<\/a> Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP)\u2014a 30,000-pound bunker-buster\u2014is designed for hardened targets like Fordow. Dropped from a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, it can penetrate 60 feet of reinforced concrete or hundreds of feet of soil and rock. Multiple MOPs delivered in a precision, double-tap pattern could collapse Fordow\u2019s structure entirely.<\/p>\n

A strike package would likely include:<\/p>\n