President Trump bombed three Iranian nuclear sites Saturday night, declaring that Fordow – the country’s most heavily fortified underground facility – “is gone.”
“Fordow is gone,” Trump posted on Truth social shortly after catching the world-off guard as his orders marked the first-ever US strike on Iranian territory.
The Fordow facility is built into a mountain south of Tehran and buried nearly 300 feet underground – and it is considered central to any Iranian effort to build a nuclear weapon.
Since it became operational in 2009, the facility has functioned as Iran’s second primary nuclear hub and a staging ground for moving materials to undisclosed sites for potential weaponization.
The site, reportedly protected by both Iranian and Russian surface-to-air missile systems, has the capacity to convert its 900-lb. stockpile of highly enriched uranium into enough weapons-grade material for up to nine nuclear bombs within three weeks.
Iran has spent years fortifying the Fordow and it was considered immune to Israeli bombs that crippled many of Tehran’s other nuclear sites.
Only America’s 15-ton GBU-57A/B Massive Ordinance Penatator “bunker buster” bombs were thought to be capable to destroying the facility.
The “MOP” explosives, which had never been used in combat before President Trump’s order Saturday, are specifically designed to penetrate deep below the ground to destroy the hub’s advanced centrifuges used to enrich uranium up to high grades of purity.
While Iran has other nuclear enrichment bases scattered across the country, with another even more heavily fortified lab reportedly under construction, many analysts believed that the fall of Fordow would be necessary to fulfill Israel’s ambition of ending Tehran’s nuclear advancements once and for all.
Trump announced on Truth Social just before 8 p.m. Saturday the US had successfully attacked Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan – but Fordow was the main target.
“A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow,” Trump said.
“All planes are safely on their way home. Congratulations to our great American Warriors. There is not another military in the World that could have done this. NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
He later declared that the Fordow facility “is gone.”
Read the latest on the US bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities:
- US strikes Iran live updates: Trump to address the nation on ‘very successful attack’ on three nuclear sites
- US has bombed three nuclear sites in Iran, Trump announces: ‘Now is the time for peace’
- GOP leaders, Sen. John Fetterman commend Trump’s strikes on Iran: ‘The correct move’
- Trump’s Iran attack catches world off-guard after fakeouts with B-2 flights and ‘two weeks’ timeframe
Trump later told Fox News that six of the massive bunker busters were dropped by B-2 Spirit stealth bombers on the site, completely destroying it.
Iranian officials, however, said in a statement that only “a part of the area” was attacked.
The other two nuclear facilities were hit with dozens of cruise missiles launched from sea.
“A few hours ago, following activation of Qom air defense systems and identification of hostile targets, a part of the area of Fordow nuclear site was attacked by enemy air forces,” a spokesperson for the Qom region’s crisis management center said, according to Iranian news outlets.
Isfahan and Natanz facilities in central Iran were also attacked, Deputy Security Governor of Isfahan confirmed to Iranian media.
The facilities had been evacuated before the strikes.
