Israel hasn't hit Iran's secretive Fordo nuclear facility yet. Here's why it might.

CBS News ^ | 6/17/2025 | Tucker Reals

[marcusmaximus]

Iran has two known underground nuclear enrichment sites, the one Israel attacked on the first day of its assault at Natanz, and another at Fordo. Both sit south of Tehran in central Iran, but Fordo has long been the Iranian nuclear facility of most concern to international monitors and experts.

Buried deep in a mountain, Fordo is where many analysts believe Iran has concealed clandestine efforts to work toward a nuclear weapons capability. There have been no reported Israeli strikes on the Fordo enrichment facility.

-snip-

"Fordo has always been a major concern because of its location and because of its size," Herrera said during a discussion with fellow Iran expert William Alberque, of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. We all knew from the beginning that Fordo was a site that aimed to enrich uranium for weapons purposes, because of its location, because of its size, because of its technical capacity. And… that the Iranians have been expanding that site and also expanding the stockpile of enriched uranium in that site, should be a concern for us, because, actually, we don't have a lot of transparency on what's going on there."

Herrera noted that, "in contrast with Natanz which is overground, Fordo is underground — it's a facility which actually has a tunnel structure."

In addition to its well-fortified location and structure, Herrera said Fordo "has always been assumed to be an enrichment plant with military purposes" due to the machinery at the site.

He noted that the Iranian regime had boasted in 2019 of installing advanced "IR-6" centrifuges at Fordo, capable of enriching uranium to higher purity levels much more quickly than most of its older equipment. In early 2023, the IAEA said it had found uranium particles at Fordo enriched to almost 84% purity, which is

[Hoboto]

I keep thinking of Frodo from “Lord of the Rings” reading this article.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

From what I've read, Fordow is why Israel is asking the US to get involved - apparently Israel does not have the bunker-busting munitions or the bombers needed to penetrate Fordow's hardening.

Destruction of the Fordow facility is the only reason I'd even contemplate any US involvement - if a concerted bombing effort of the Fordow facility by the US ends Iran's nuclear ambitions for the foreseeable future, I'd accept this as the right decision.

[marcusmaximus]

I think Fredo from The Godfather.

[Bayard]

“I don’t think there will be a return journey, Mr Frodo”

[j.havenfarm]

It’s pretty unusual that Defense Ministry is telegraphing plans to attack this facility. They have been so ingenious… well, after October 7… and they have so many operatives in country that I can’t help think they’ve come up with something to crack this thing. Per their statements, well known by the end of the week

[Sarah Barracuda]

Yeah I dont understand why Israel did not think of that in advance. They could have asked the US to have one of their B-2 bombers in order to have our bunker bomb we would have probably given it to them or is it something that only WE can fly

[CatHerd]

But it’s not about Fordow. It’s about regime change and UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER

Besides, according to publicly available information, even our biggest baddest bunker buster can’t go that deep and it would need a number of strikes to penetrate that far down, and even then ...

Bibi also needed our help right out of the gate because he bit off more than he could chew — Israel doesn’t have a sufficient number of tankers to keep his aircraft refueled and needed ours to help out there, as well as to help shoot down incoming drones and missiles. Now it looks like we are going to get even more involved.

[FreedomNotSafety]

I think the threats to blow it up are an attempt to persuade its personnel to give it up. Israeli spies would cart off the good stuff. It would be a serious intel coup.

Or, as been said already, the Israelis have people there.

[plain talk]

I understand your reasoning and sort of agree. But to me a key component is the probability of verified success. Buried under 300’ of rock? Not sure how you know what you got without boots on the ground which will be needed at some point to inspect the remains of the sites.

[Sacajaweau]

Secret facility....How many people will read about this “secret”?

[crz]

Agree.
What might happen, and there are already slight signs, is China will send in troops with the understanding of regional security.
They’ll remove the supreme leader and have him taken away under a custody agreement and exiled.

China, Pakistan, Turkey, Qatar and a few others, India, are consumers of Iranian energy.

If China sends in peacekeeping troops, to protect their interests, then what does Israel do?

Russia, although it has a security agreement with Iran presently, is busy elsewhere. Their response in this conflict would be purely military if at all. But, they have that agreement.

So, they have already asked China to cover for them no doubt.
Aside from that, Russia is about to make a whole lot of money out of this debacle.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

They haven’t hit Fordo yet because they are still trying to locate ChevyO and ChryslerO.

[convoter2016]

I don’t think Netanyahu would have launched the attack on Iran unless Israel have spies or collaborators to do their bidding at Fordow. Likely Israel has planted explosives near the mountain so if there is an opportunity, Israel could order the spies to insert the explosives in Fordow and detonate a big explosion.

[conserv8]

Cookoo nest fly-over

[verum ago]

Not sure how you know what you got without boots on the ground which will be needed at some point to inspect the remains of the sites.

There’s also the longer term matter of weapons-grade uranium not going bad just because it’s buried in some rubble. The plant could be completely destroyed operationally, but if the Iranians have enough for a material for a bomb (or multiple), they don’t need to rebuild the plant. They just need to tunnel back in, recover it, and assemble the bomb elsewhere.

[plain talk]

Yeah to all that. Unfortunately it seems it would be hard to get rid of the threat by just launching bombs from afar.

[PIF]

We could follow MTG’s Isolationist “America First” example and wait until Iran has the means to nuke NYC and Chicago, as they have announced some decades ago - Death to America, Death to the Big Satan is not a chant, its a policy.

[Pocketdoor]

They can estimate it’s size by measuring the tailings outside.

I think they will assault it with a ground force.

[NonValueAdded]

IAEA says 87%. Boy, I hope they have that stored properly. It would be a darned shame if explosions above caused some containers to break open and a critical mass formed. A darned shame (wink wink nudge nudge)