After U.S. B-2 bombers dropped six 30,000-pound GBU‑57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs on Iran’s Fordow nuclear site on Saturday night, President Donald Trump reposted an assessment from Open Source Intel that said “Fordow is gone” on Truth Social.
During his 10 p.m. ET address to the nation, Trump said, “Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.”
Since Israel launched its preemptive strikes on June 13, we’ve all become armchair experts on Iran’s nuclear facilities. The Fordow facility, buried deep beneath a mountain and considered the crown jewel of the theocratic regime’s nuclear weapons program, was regarded as the most heavily protected and the hardest to take out.
The U.S. operation, called “Midnight Hammer,” also struck Natanz, Iran’s main uranium enrichment site, with both GBU-57s and Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from a U.S. Navy submarine.
The Isfahan uranium conversion center was hit with Tomahawks as well.
The Iranian government, for whom national pride outweighs all other considerations, insists that the U.S. attacks caused only ‘limited damage’ to Fordow. However, they provided no specifics.
Both portrayals may have been premature; the true extent of the damage likely lies somewhere in between.
First, according to preliminary reports from both the International Atomic Energy Agency and Iran, no radioactive release has been detected, which is good news.
[The IAEA is an independent international organization that works in close partnership with the United Nations but is not a formal part of the UN system.]
The IAEA has confirmed “clear and significant” damage to the surface and tunnel entrances of Iran’s Fordow facility. However, the agency remains uncertain about the strikes’ effect on the deep internal cascade halls, which it says “may remain at least partially intact.” With inspections still pending, the extent of any damage to the site’s underground chambers remains unknown.
At a Sunday morning press conference, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters that Iran’s nuclear ambitions have been completely obliterated.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Lt. Gen. Dan ‘Razin’ Caine said, “Final battle damage will take some time but an initial battle damage assessment indicates that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction.”
Reporters asked both Hegseth and Caine if Iran retains any nuclear capability. Both declined to answer, noting that until a battle damage assessment has been conducted, the extent of the damage to the facilities is impossible to know.
The BBC reported that “the deputy political director of Iran’s state broadcaster, Hassan Abedini, said Iran had evacuated these three nuclear sites a ‘while ago.’ Appearing on state-run TV, he said Iran ‘didn’t suffer a major blow because the materials had already been taken out.'”
Was it bluster or was it true?
Updates to follow.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on LinkedIn or X.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY