State of Iran's nuclear facilities after US airstrikes
Satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies taken after US airstrikes shows damage to the mountainside where the underground nuclear facility at Fordo is buried.
Báo Khoa học và Đời sống•23/06/2025
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force General Dan “Razin” Caine, have now provided The War Zone with information about the historic attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, in an operation known as Operation Midnight Hammer. Photo: @Bipartisan Policy Center. Accordingly, the US Air Force's B-2 Spirit stealth bomber dropped 14 13,607 kg GBU-57/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bunker-buster bombs on Iran's Fordow and Natanz nuclear facilities. This attack marked the first use of MOP bombs in the campaign. Photo: @Fox News.
A total of 125 aircraft, including B-2 stealth bombers, multiple flights of fourth- and fifth-generation fighters, dozens of aerial refueling tankers, a guided missile submarine and a full array of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, as well as hundreds of maintenance and operations specialists, supported the air component of the operation. “This was the largest B-2 strike in U.S. history, and the second-longest B-2 mission ever flown, behind only the days after the horrific 9/11 terrorist attacks,” Air Force Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine told reporters. Photo: @Hindustan Times. “Battle damage assessments are still underway, but our initial assessment is that all of our precision munitions hit where we wanted them to and had the desired effect. That means that specifically at Fordow, the primary target here, we believe we destroyed critical capabilities at that facility,” said US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Photo: @Maxar Technologies. Buried 300 feet below a mountain and reinforced with layers of concrete, Iran’s fortress-like Fordo facility, south of the Iranian capital Tehran, is the country’s most advanced and fortified nuclear facility. And the New York Times exclusively reported that the attack on Fordow caused serious damage to the facility, but did not completely destroy it. Photo: @The Observer.
Recently, Maxar Technologies, an American defense contractor, released satellite images showing the current state of Iran's Fordo nuclear facility after the US airstrike. Photo: @Maxar Technologies. Satellite imagery provided exclusively by Maxar Technologies clearly shows several large-diameter holes or craters appearing along the top of a mountain range above the Fordow underground complex. Photo: @Maxar Technologies. “Even layers of gray-green ash from the airstrikes are visible over a large area of the Fordow area,” Maxar noted in a statement accompanying the images. Photo: @Maxar Technologies. Additionally, some tunnel entrances to the Fordow underground facility were blocked with earth following US airstrikes. Photo: @Maxar Technologies.
Other satellite images released by Maxar Technologies show a series of unusual activities near the tunnels, three days before the US airstrike on the Fordow underground complex. Specifically, on June 19, there were 16 trucks carrying supplies near the entrance tunnel. The next day, the trucks moved northwest away from the site, but other trucks and bulldozers were near the entrance. Photo: @Maxar Technologies. At the same time as the Fordow bombing, a US submarine launched more than 20 cruise missiles. The weapons hit buildings and tunnel entrances at a third nuclear site in Isfahan. Iran has yet to provide an assessment of the damage to that site. Photo: @Maxar Technologies.
Asked at a press conference if Iran's nuclear capabilities were still there, Air Force Gen. Dan "Razin" Caine said: "I think the battle damage assessment is still pending, and it would be premature for me to comment on what may or may not still be there." Photo: @Maxar Technologies.
Báo Khoa học và Đời sống•23/06/2025
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