Prior to the overnight US airstrikes targeting three major Iranian nuclear-linked facilities, high-resolution satellite imagery from June 19 and 20 captured unusual activity near the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Facility, a heavily fortified underground site located near the city of Qom. The images revealed a significant movement of trucks and construction equipment around the facility’s tunnel entrance—activity that raised suspicions among Western intelligence agencies monitoring the site.
On June 19, a convoy of 16 cargo trucks was seen lined up along the narrow access road leading to the tunnel’s entry point. By the following day, many of those trucks had shifted approximately one kilometre northwest, away from the tunnel. However, new equipment—including additional trucks and multiple bulldozers—had appeared near the primary entrance, with at least one vehicle parked right next to the main tunnel. The activity was interpreted as either an effort to fortify the facility ahead of a potential strike or to hastily evacuate sensitive materials.
Just hours after the airstrikes began in the early hours of Sunday, US President Donald Trump claimed during an interview with Fox News that Fordow had been “neutralised” by six of America’s most powerful conventional weapons—the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP). He said these bombs had never before been used in combat. The attack was carried out by B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, the only aircraft in the US arsenal capable of delivering the 30,000-pound bunker busters.
Fordow has long been considered one of the most impenetrable components of Iran’s nuclear program. Built into a mountain, and reportedly protected by advanced air defense systems, it houses multiple centrifuge cascades for uranium enrichment. Western intelligence agencies have tracked its development since at least 2007, but Iran only formally acknowledged its existence to the IAEA in 2009, under pressure from growing international scrutiny.
The GBU-57, sometimes described as the "mountain breaker," is designed to destroy deeply buried or hardened targets. It can penetrate over 60 feet of reinforced concrete or up to 200 feet of earth before detonating, making it ideal for missions like the strike on Fordow. This weapon is so massive that only the B-2, operated exclusively by the US Air Force and manufactured by Northrop Grumman, can carry and deliver it effectively.
With the Fordow strike, the US has executed one of the most technologically advanced and boldest strikes against a hardened nuclear target. The repercussions of this action are still unfolding, with heightened tensions across the Middle East and swift Iranian retaliation reported in various parts of Israel.
