Donald Trump has assured that an American attack on the three main nuclear facilities of Iran – Natanz, Isfahán and Fordo – has “annihilated” the main uranium enrichment plants of the country. Shortly after, Iranian media have reported that part of the Fordo plant had been attacked in an “enemy offensive.”
“Everyone has heard of those plants for years while building their horrible and destructive initiative. Our goal has been the destruction of Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities,” Trump said. “The attacks have been a spectacular military success,” he stressed in his usual superlative language.
Trump's decision to directly involve the United States in the offensive comes after more than a week of Israel's attacks against Iran, which have aimed at systematically eradicating aerial defenses and the country's offensive missile abilities, while damaging their nuclear enrichment facilities. They have also murdered hundreds of civilians.
However, Israel considered that the Fordo nuclear fuel enrichment plant, buried under a mountain and protected by anti -aircraft batteries, was beyond the reach of its air attacks. Dismantling Fordo was, according to Tel Aviv, crucial to prevent Iran to acquire nuclear weapons, after the International Atomic Energy Agency (OIEA) considered that the plant had enriched uranium up to 83.7%, about 90% necessary for nuclear weapons. The reality is that Netanyahu has been ensuring that Iran is about to develop the nuclear weapon, something that has not happened at this time.
Israel has insistently requested from the Trump administration to use American antibunker bombs, specifically the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator of more than 13,500 kilos. This pump uses its weight and kinetic force to achieve buried objectives in depth before detonating. It can only be launched by the Purtive Bomber B-2, a type of plane with which only the United States has.
The GBU-57 carries a conventional eye and is believed to be able to penetrate about 60 meters under the surface before exploiting. These pumps can be launched one after another, piercing the terrain with greater depth with each successive explosion.
An American official has recognized Reuters that B-2 bombers have participated in attacks against Iran's nuclear facilities. Trump, on the other hand, has assured in Fox News that six antibunker bombs on Fordo were launched, while 30 Tomahawk missiles were shot at other nuclear facilities, including Natanz.
It has also been reported that this operation has been the first one in which the GBU-57 pump has been used in combat Massive Ordnance Penetrator.
After weeks of insistence, Benjamin Netanyahu has celebrated Trump's decision, ensuring that “the impressive and fair power of the United States will change the story.” The Israeli prime minister has declared in a video that the US “has done what no other country on Earth could do.”
In the same praiseful line, Trump has thanked Netanyahu, saying that “they worked as a team as perhaps nobody has done it before”, and that he had advanced a lot towards “the elimination of this horrible threat to Israel.”
However, the reality is that given its fortification, it is very likely that it takes days, if not more, in knowing the real impact of attacks on Fordo.
Iran denies military ends
During all this time, Iran has repeatedly insisted that its nuclear program has exclusively peaceful purposes. In the same vein, American intelligence agencies had indicated that Tehran was not actively looking for a bomb. Despite this information from their intelligence and espionage services, both Trump and Israeli leaders have affirmed that Iran could quickly assemble a nuclear weapon, in an imminent threat.
Natanz, the other main Iranian enrichment installation, was attacked by Israel at the beginning of his campaign. Diplomats familiar with Natanz describe that its underground fuel enrichment plant is located about three floors underground. For a long time there has been a debate about the scope of the damage that Israeli air attacks could cause him.
Last week, Trump suggested people from his environment that it would only make sense for the United States to launch attacks against Iran if the so -called “antibunker” bomb guaranteed the destruction of the critical installation of uranium enrichment in Fordo.
Along the same lines, some US defense responsible have noticed in private that the use of conventional bombs, even as part of a broader attack package of several GBU-57, would not penetrate with sufficient depth underground and that their detonations would limit themselves to collapse access tunnels and bury the installation under rubble without really damaging their heart.
