Israel could attempt to destroy Iran's Fordow nuclear facility
Israel could attempt to damage or destroy Iran's Fordow nuclear facility by deploying a team of special forces if the US is unwilling to deploy its 'bunker-busting' bombs, an official has claimed. The Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FEP), buried deep beneath the mountains near the holy city of Qom, is one of Iran's most secretive and heavily fortified nuclear facilities.
Enrichment centrifuges housed within its secured chambers are capable of producing uranium at near-weapons-grade levels, and access to the site is tightly controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Built in defiance of international pressure and revealed to the world only after Western intelligence agencies exposed its existence in 2009, the site was constructed some 90 metres (285ft) underground to shield it from aerial bombardment. Only the US has the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) munitions capable of reaching the facility, but Trump on Wednesday said: 'We have the capability to do it, but that doesn't mean I am going to do it.'
Hours later, a US official told Axios that Israel had informed the Trump administration that while they may not be able to reach deep enough into the mountain with bombs, they may 'do it with humans'. This raises the prospect of a daring boots-on-the-ground operation - and one that is not without precedent. In September, Israeli special forces deployed to Masyaf in Syria where they conducted a raid on an underground missile production facility they claimed was 'the flagship of Iranian manufacturing efforts in our region'. And Israel's Mossad spy agency has proven its capability to operate on Iranian soil, having constructed a clandestine base of attack drones used to sabotage Iran's air defence systems prior to Friday's initial assault.
But Fordow is one of Iran's most prized and protected nuclear assets, and any Israeli military operation would surely be met with huge resistance. Israeli Defence Forces Lieutenant Colonel Nadav Shoshani told reporters earlier this year about the special forces' bold operation to destroy the missile production site in Syria. 'This facility was designed to manufacture hundreds of strategic missiles per year from start to finish, for Hezbollah to use in their aerial attacks on Israel,' he said.
The plant, dug into a mountainside, had been under observation by Israel since construction began in 2017. The IDF claimed it was on the point of being able to manufacture precision-guided missiles, some with a range of up to 300km (190 miles). 'This ability was becoming active, so we're talking about an immediate threat,' Lt. Col. Shoshani said.
Shoshani added that the nighttime raid was 'one of the more complex operations the IDF has done in recent years'. Accompanied by airstrikes, it involved dozens of aircraft and around 100 helicopter-borne troops, he said. 'At the end of the raid, the troops dismantled the facility, including the machines and the manufacturing equipment, themselves,' he claimed.
However, there is no telling whether Israeli special forces could pull off the same feat in an attack on Fordow. Since launching the first round of attacks on Friday, Israel's warplanes have now struck hundreds of targets linked to Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes, and Israeli military officials boasted the Islamic Republic's military leaders were 'on the run'. Despite Israel's early success, questions have already arisen over whether the Jewish state is capable of reaching its targets as described by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu . Speaking on Monday, Netanyahu said Israel was 'pursuing three main objectives' in Iran: 'The elimination of the nuclear programme, the elimination of ballistic missile production capability, and the elimination of the axis of terrorism.'
But many analysts believe Jerusalem is incapable of achieving those aims unless its most powerful ally decides to enter the fray. 'Without active US military participation, Israel's operational ceiling remains constrained,' Dr Andreas Krieg, an expert in Middle East security and senior lecturer at King's College London's School of Security Studies, told MailOnline. So far, Israel has targeted multiple Iranian nuclear sites and has damaged the Natanz FEP. But Israeli security officials confirmed earlier this week that the air force has not attempted any strikes on Fordow.
To have any hope of eliminating it without resorting to its own nuclear weapons - or if an elite commando raid is deemed unlikely to succeed - Israel would need to harness the power of some of the world's most powerful conventional bombs. The 30,000-pound (14,000-kilogram) GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), a US-made bunker-busting bomb that uses its weight and sheer kinetic force to reach deeply buried targets, could manage to take Fordow out. This terrifying munition can penetrate some 200 feet (61 meters) below the surface before exploding, and the bombs can be dropped one after another, effectively drilling deeper and deeper with each successive blast. In theory, the MOP could be dropped by any plane capable of carrying the weight.
But Israel has neither the bomb, nor the capability to deliver it. 'Only the US Air Force's B-2 Spirit stealth bomber is capable of deploying the MOP,' Krieg explained. 'Without these assets, Israel's capacity to destroy the core of Iran's enrichment infrastructure is severely limited.' And, even if Fordow could be destroyed, a successful strike would not erase Iran's nuclear ambitions, according to Krieg. 'The fundamental challenge remains that Iran's nuclear programme is not just a collection of facilities. It is also a body of knowledge, personnel, and dispersed technical infrastructure. Much of the scientific expertise survives the bombings. Iran has long decentralised and concealed aspects of its programme precisely in anticipation of such scenarios. This means that unless there is sustained international pressure, robust inspections, and political change within Iran, the regime can, and likely would, rebuild over time thanks to its scientific base and global black-market procurement networks,' Krieg said.
Krieg also claimed that continued attacks by Israel may have the opposite of their intended effect. Going after Iran's nuclear programme could 'reinforce Tehran's belief that a nuclear deterrent is not only justified but essential for regime survival'. 'Rather than halting Iran's nuclear trajectory, the strikes may serve as a powerful vindication of the logic that drives Iran's long-term nuclear ambition - deterrence through capability,' he said.
Tehran has repeatedly insisted its nuclear programme is peaceful and that it has never intended to make a bomb, despite the fears of Israel and the West . However, its ever-growing stockpile of enriched uranium – needed to produce an atomic weapon – had triggered major concerns.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN's nuclear watchdog, said Iran's activity was a 'matter of serious concern'. On June 12, the day before Israel's sudden attack, the IAEA ruled that Iran was in breach of its safeguard obligations. Iran criticised the 'politically motivated' decision, announcing it would bolster its nuclear programme with a new enrichment facility in a 'secure location'.
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