Overview

• Israel’s airstrikes on Natanz and Fordow since June 13 have inflicted damage above ground but left Fordow’s underground halls largely intact, IAEA inspections show.
• Fordow sits 60 to 90 meters under a mountain outside Qom and is reinforced with heavy concrete and steel, placing it beyond the reach of Israel’s arsenal.
• The Pentagon’s GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, a 30,000-pound precision-guided bomb, has never been used in combat and may struggle to penetrate the facility’s full depth.
• National security experts warn that multiple successive MOP strikes would be required to compromise Fordow and that Iran could simply shift its enrichment operations elsewhere if the site is damaged.
• President Trump is expected to decide on US military support for Israel’s campaign, including potential MOP deployment against Fordow, by around June 27.