Report: Israel Again Strikes Fordow Facility, But How Much Damage Could It Cause?

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Eyewitnesses stated that loud explosions were heard near the Fordow nuclear facility in Iran early Monday morning, accompanied by noticeable ground tremors that allegedly triggered a minor earthquake measuring 2.5 on the Richter scale.

Videos posted by Iran International English showed massive blasts at around 20 kilometers from the city of Qom.

Located deep within a mountain, about 20 kilometers northeast of the Shiite holy city of Qom, the Fordow facility is Iran’s second uranium enrichment site and its most fortified. Unlike the larger and more well-known Natanz, Fordow is a relatively small site but is buried deep within the mountain — 80–90 meters underground — a depth that makes it nearly impervious to conventional aerial attacks.

Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter had previously addressed the question of whether Israel is capable of attacking deeply buried facilities like Fordow. “The aid we’ve requested from the U.S. is limited to defensive aspects,” he told Fox News. “We are very grateful to President Trump and the administration for the THAAD and Aegis missile defense systems — but those are purely defensive. We have several scenarios that would allow us to deal with Fordow. Not everything is about flying in and bombing from afar.”

He added:

“Whether or not the U.S. will join to ensure the complete destruction of the nuclear program is a decision the administration will have to make.”

To understand Fordow’s strategic significance, it’s useful to compare it to Natanz:

Natanz is a massive facility housing over 19,000 active centrifuges. According to the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), it has capacity for up to 50,000 centrifuges. However, it’s buried just 8 meters underground, which is a major vulnerability. According to the IAEA, the above-ground structures were completely destroyed in Israel’s recent strike. Though the underground halls were not, the centrifuges which were working at the time of Thursday’s attack were heavily damaged.

Fordow, on the other hand, is much smaller, with only about 3,000 centrifuges in two halls, but buried 80–90 meters deep in the mountain. While Natanz enriches uranium to 3–5%, Fordow is now used to enrich uranium to 60%, and recently, traces of 83.7% enrichment (close to weapons-grade 90%) were found there. This means Fordow serves as a “nuclear insurance policy” for Iran — a facility where uranium could be enriched to weapons-grade levels, protected from attack, should Iran decide to move toward producing a nuclear weapon.

Satellite imagery shows winding roads disappearing directly into mountain tunnels, leading to the centrifuge halls. These are embedded in solid rock, buried 80–90 meters below the surface. The facility is nearly impossible to strike with conventional air power.

Originally, Fordow was a missile base for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). According to Western intelligence, construction of the enrichment facility began in 2006–2007, and was kept secret until September 2009, when the U.S., UK, and France exposed its existence. Iran was then forced to acknowledge it to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), claiming it had civilian purposes. But the nuclear archive documents Israel obtained in 2018 revealed the true story — that Fordow (known as Project Al-Ghadir) was part of Iran’s Amad Project, aimed at developing nuclear weapons.

The 2015 nuclear agreement (JCPOA) stipulated that Fordow would cease uranium enrichment for 15 years and become a civilian research center. While Iran did stop enrichment temporarily, after the U.S. withdrew from the deal in May 2018, Iran began walking back its commitments.

The only known air-delivered weapon capable of destroying Fordow is the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) — a 13.6-ton bomb designed to destroy bunkers located tens of meters underground. The only aircraft capable of carrying it is the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber.

The B-2 was once stationed at Diego Garcia, an island base strategically located for strikes on Iran. Currently, it would need to launch from Missouri, a significantly longer route.

A recent New York Times report proposed an alternative: sending in commando forces to infiltrate the mountain, rig the facility with explosives, and destroy it — similar to Israel’s past operation in Syria known as “Operation Many Paths.” However, such an operation would involve:

Significant risk of escalation and entanglement, the loss of the element of surprise, which Israel had during its opening strike last Friday and would likely rely on substantial U.S. assistance.

Fordow represents Iran’s most critical and protected nuclear site — a last line of defense for its nuclear program. While Natanz is more visible and vulnerable, Fordow was specifically designed to withstand attacks and allow Iran to quickly enrich uranium to weapons-grade levels if it chooses.

Destroying it would require either specialized bunker-busting bombs or a high-risk, high-complexity commando raid — both of which depend heavily on American involvement.