Under the rugged face of Berg Alvand near the religious city of Qom is the Fordow Fuel -enrichment installation – an underground stronghold and the center of Iran’s nuclear ambitions. Although presented as a civil facility, Fordow is generally regarded by Israeli intelligence as the likely heart of the secret atomic effort of Tehran.
For years, the Islamic Republic has played a dangerous game to strengthen uranium just below arms quality, hindering the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) supervision and the use of regional instability as a shield for his ambitions. Although Israel has previously confronted nuclear threats, it lacks the Bunker bust capacity to neutralize Fordow. That responsibility now falls to the United States. The case for destroying Fordow is not only strong – it is urgent.
Fordow: The core of the nuclear calculus of Iran
Iran’s nuclear infrastructure includes different locations: Natanz, which is more exposed; Arak, partially reused; and Esfahan and Parchin, both important research locations. But Fordow is apart. It is buried under almost 80 meters of rock and hosts advanced IR-6 centrifuges that can enrich uranium at accelerated rates. The site is designed to survive conventional air strikes and represents Iran’s strategic bet on invulnerability.
Only the US Army can disable Iran’s ‘dangerous’ nuclear site
Fordow exposed Western information in 2009 after years of concealment. Prime Minister Netanyahu warned that Iran’s leaders “supported their genocidal rhetoric with a nuclear weapon program,” and warned: “If it was not stopped, Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in a very short time. It can be a year. It can be less than a year within a few months.” While he told Business Insider that Israel’s strike “hit the core of the nuclear arms infrastructure of Iran,” he acknowledged that Israel misses the heavy bunker-busting ammunition that are needed to destroy locations such as Fordow.
Fordow is not just an enrichment site – it is a reinforced monument for the deception and determination of Iran. The United States alone have the tools and reach to destroy it.
IAEA -Director -Uaar Rafael Grossi In 2024, confirm that Iran has now enriched sufficient uranium to 60%-a technical heart rate away from weapons of weapons-to build different nuclear devices. He warned the IAEA There was no sufficient transparency in the nuclear activities of Iran and warned that “without full Iranian cooperation the agency cannot verify that its program is peaceful.”
A pattern of deception and alarm
In 2018, Mossad -agents seized 55,000 documents from a warehouse in Tehran that revealed a secret nuclear weapon program that is known as “Project Amad”. David Albright From the Institute for Science and International Security, the material rated as “clear evidence that Iran intended to produce five nuclear weapons.”
Despite the JCPOA framework, Iran Nuclear-related activity continues to Nurquzabad, Marivan and Varamin-where IAEA inspectors have found traces of nuclear material without explanation. These discoveries indicate a persistent weapon agenda.
In 2023, IDF -Stafchef Lt. Gene. Herzi Halevi Warned that “negative developments with regard to Iran’s nuclear program” could force Israel to act. His predecessor, Lt. Gene. Aviv KochaviWas Botter: “Iran today has enough enriched material to produce four nuclear bombs, three with 20 percent and one with 60 percent.”
Despite the threat, Israel Fordow cannot effectively hit. As Israeli ambassador Yechiel Leiter admitted: “We may be able to hit Natanz, but we cannot achieve Fordow without American support.”
How the US would strike – and why it should be
The US Army has the ability to neutralize Fordow. The GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP)-A bunker-buster of 30,000 pounds designed for hardened goals such as Fordow. Stopped from a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, the 60 feet can penetrate concrete or hundreds of base and rock. Multiple MOPs that are delivered in a precision can completely collapse the double tap pattern the structure of Fordow.
A battle package would probably be:
- Stealth B-2 bomber infiltration of bases such as Whiteman Fig or Diego Garcia;
- Electronic oppression of Iranian anti -aircraft weather;
- Real-time satellite and drone ISR (intelligence, monitoring and exploration);
- Follow-on cruise rocket strikes if necessary.
But the mission cannot stop when explosing. The United States must insist on independent verification that Fordow has been irreparably disabled. This can include IAEA inspection or allowed or the use of American intelligence options to collect images, seismic data and confirmation on the ground. A successful strike means little unless the world can verify the result.
Osirak Revisited: lessons from 1981
In 1981, Israel destroyed the Osirak reactor from Iraq in Operation Opera. The then Prime Minister Menachem began: “We will never again allow an enemy to develop weapons of mass destruction against the Jewish people.” Although initially convicted, the strike was later justified when the Gulf War revealed the ongoing nuclear ambitions of Saddam Hussein.
Trump is confronted with a critical decision when the Midden -East is staggering on Brink of War
The US is now where Israel once stood – a critical threat with a limited time. Iran can enable delay to build a bomb, strengthen alternative locations or export nuclear know -how to his proxies in Lebanon, Syria or Yemen.
What if we don’t strike?
Opponents of military action claim that it could cause a regional war, can rise the oil prices or encourage Iran’s hardliners. These are serious risks – but no greater than allowing a fanatic regime to field fields. Iran has already threatened retribution, but the escalation capacity is controlled by economic fragility, internal deviating opinions and the ghost of overwhelming American retribution.
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As Henry Kissinger once stated: “The classic idea of ​​deterrence was that there was some consequences for which aggressors and evolilders would recover.” Defraction must be credible – and sometimes credibility requires action.
Not acting would encourage other nuclear aspirants. From Noord -Korea to China, watching villains. A nuclear Iran would almost certainly cause proliferation in the middle and cause a regional weapon race with Saudi -Arabia, Turkey and Egypt.
The costs of inactivity
Striking Fordow will not delete the nuclear knowledge of Iran. But it will paralyze its most safe facility, restore the program and indicate that the US will act when worldwide stability is at stake. The alternative is a future in which Iran secretly explodes a bomb and confronts the world from a position of strength and impunity.
That scenario would force the US into a larger and bloody war; They fought under the shadow of a nuclear threat.
Conclusion
Fordow is not just an enrichment site – it is a reinforced monument for the deception and determination of Iran. The United States alone have the tools and reach to destroy it. This mission, if undertaken, must be accurate, overwhelming and independent.
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The clock ticks. Every month Iran Inspection, every trail of material that is found at a non -declared place, every rhetorical threat, Inches us closer to the point of no return.
History will assess our determination. Let it be said that when the mountain hid the bomb, America crushed the mountain – and it proved.
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