{"id":2449856,"date":"2025-06-20T13:45:02","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T17:45:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bunker-buster-not-only-option-to-take-down-fordow\/"},"modified":"2025-06-20T13:47:31","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T17:47:31","slug":"bunker-buster-not-only-option-to-take-down-fordow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bunker-buster-not-only-option-to-take-down-fordow\/","title":{"rendered":"Bunker buster not only option to take down Fordow"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbunker-buster-not-only-option-to-take-down-fordow%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2449856&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article discusses the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant in Iran, a crucial target for Israel amidst its ongoing military actions against Iranian facilities. Experts beleive that customary munitions, such as the U.S.-developed GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, are essential to effectively penetrate Fordow&#8217;s ample underground defenses. Though, this would require U.S. involvement since only its aircraft can carry these bombs. <\/p>\n<p>Israeli officials are considering various alternatives, including tactical nuclear weapons, which could severely damage Israel&#8217;s moral stance on nuclear non-proliferation. The Israeli Ambassador emphasized that there are strategic options that do not necessarily involve direct bombing. One such option could <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >involve special forces conducting<\/a> a ground raid similar to a previous operation in Syria, albeit with greater risk given Fordow&#8217;s fortified location.<\/p>\n<p>Other methods suggested include the possibility of sealing off access points to the facility, though this would result in the need for ongoing surveillance and maintenance.The U.S. is expected to make a decision regarding its level of involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict soon, while Iran has stated its unwillingness to engage in talks with the U.S.until Israeli attacks cease.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">US <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/now-is-the-time-to-stop-iran-from-building-a-nuclear-weapon\/\" title=\"Now Is the Time to Stop ... From Building a ... Weapon\">bunker-buster bomb<\/a> not the only option to take out Iran Fordow nuclear facility<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2153087\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>Deep under a mountain, just a short distance from the Shiite holy city of Qom, an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/iran\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Iranian nuclear facility <\/a>is in operation that experts believe is capable of enriching uranium to military levels.<\/p>\n<p>The Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant is perhaps the most critical target in Israel&rsquo;s weeklong <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3448391\/netanyahu-vows-to-hit-all-nuclear-facilities-in-iran\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3448468\/maga-iran-trump-civil-war\/\">MAGA voices confident that Trump is listening to them on Iran<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/3448456\/no-room-iran-us-talks-israel-attacks\/\">Iran&#8217;s foreign minister says &#8216;no room&#8217; for talks with US until Israel&#8217;s attacks stop<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/premium\/3443604\/bell-tolls-for-ayatollahs-israeli-strikes-iran\/\">The bell tolls for the ayatollahs<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Common wisdom from intelligence experts and military analysts says that only a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/defense\/3446343\/bunker-buster-bombs-us-iran-israel-conflict\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">GBU-57 A\/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator<\/a>, or MOP, which is a 30,000-pound bunker buster exclusively developed by the U.S. military, is capable of penetrating deep enough into the Earth to destroy the facility.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">In this photo released by the U.S. Air Force on May 2, 2023, airmen look at a GBU-57, or the Massive Ordnance Penetrator bomb, at Whiteman Air Base in Missouri. (U.S. Air Force via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>One MOP would not be capable of penetrating the rock and concrete believed to be protecting Fordow. It would take at least two consecutive bombings, dropped precisely on top of one another, even possibly to get through to the facility itself.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, the U.S. military is the only force with an aircraft capable of carrying and dropping the MOP. If the bombs are to be deployed, it will almost certainly require the U.S. to get involved in the conflict.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3447921\/trump-keeps-world-waiting-iran-deliberations\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">President Donald Trump<\/a> is keeping a range of U.S. actions on the table, but division within the MAGA-sphere seems to be holding the White House back from charging headlong into Israel&rsquo;s bombing campaign.<\/p>\n<p>If the U.S. is not willing to drop the MOPs, Israel will need to pursue alternative means of neutralizing Fordow.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Tactical nuclear weapon<\/h2>\n<p>The most obvious alternative is the deployment of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/off-to-a-bad-start-putin-schools-biden-with-one-phone-call\/\" title=\"Off to a Bad START: Putin Schools Biden with One Phone Call\">tactical nuclear weapon<\/a>. The political ramifications for such a move, especially in the context of ostensibly seeking to prevent the production of nuclear weapons, would be extreme and could drastically wound Israel&rsquo;s already crumbling moral legitimacy in the minds of Western nations.<\/p>\n<p>Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Yechiel Leiter <a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/International\/wireStory\/bunker-buster-bombs-irans-fordo-nuclear-facility-122920121\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">said in an interview<\/a> on Friday that his country has a &ldquo;number of contingencies&rdquo; regarding how to destroy the underground compound that do not require dropping a bomb.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows the Fordo enrichment facility in Iran on Jan. 24, 2025. (Maxar Technologies via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;Not everything is a matter of, you know, taking to the skies and bombing from afar,&rdquo; the ambassador said.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Shaldag 5101<\/h2>\n<p>One possibility is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/israel-news\/article-857626\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">special forces raid<\/a> carried out on the ground. This would be a difficult and treacherous operation, but it is not entirely without precedent.<\/p>\n<p>Israeli Air Force Unit<strong> <\/strong>5101, also known as Shaldag, conducted a raid on an underground site last year in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/syria\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Masyaf, Syria<\/a>, operated by Iranian proxies. The site was allegedly developing long-range missile technology capable of making precise strikes in Israel.<\/p>\n<p>A similar raid on Fordow would allow the Israel Defense Forces to secure and then detonate the facility from inside without the need to penetrate the soil, rock, and concrete fortifications.<\/p>\n<p>However, the Syrian facility was not as deeply embedded in the Earth as Fordow, and the Iranian military is better equipped than its Syrian counterpart. The mission would be extremely risky.<\/p>\n<p>The Syria raid also required extensive work from the air force to cripple regional air defenses to allow the Shaldag operatives to assault the facility unhindered.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Other methods<\/h2>\n<p>Other methods have been proposed that seek to neutralize the facility without relying on inflicting massive damage at all.<\/p>\n<p>Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/john-bolton\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">John Bolton<\/a> told the&nbsp;<em>Washington Examiner<\/em>&nbsp;that Israel could &ldquo;close the entry shaft and air shafts&rdquo; because &ldquo;if you can&rsquo;t breathe, you can&rsquo;t enrich uranium.&rdquo; <\/p>\n<p>However, he warned that anything less than completely destroying Fordow would likely require &ldquo;preventative maintenance every couple months.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">In this photo released on Nov. 6, 2019, by the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, a truck carrying uranium hexafluoride gas leaves the Ahmadi Roshan uranium enrichment facility in Natanz, Iran, for the centrifuges at the Fordo nuclear facility. (Atomic Energy Organization of Iran via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;If the Israelis would do it unilaterally by themselves, they could collapse the air shafts, the tunnels, effectively entombing the facility, and then you&rsquo;d end up on a constant mission of suppression, if the Iranians tried to access the facility,&rdquo; Alex Plitsas, an expert with the Atlantic Council, told the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>. <\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/3448456\/no-room-iran-us-talks-israel-attacks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">IRAN&rsquo;S FOREIGN MINISTER SAYS &lsquo;NO ROOM&rsquo; FOR TALKS WITH US UNTIL ISRAEL&rsquo;S ATTACKS STOP<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;So you can understand why, in that case, would be the least ideal option, and have to go back and constantly suppress any future activity, as opposed to just trying to take it out with a larger-scale attack,&rdquo; he continued.<\/p>\n<p>Trump announced on Thursday that he would make a decision about U.S. involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict within two weeks, hoping for a diplomatic path to peace.<\/p>\n<p>Iranian Foreign Minister <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/3448456\/no-room-iran-us-talks-israel-attacks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Abbas Araghchi<\/a> said on Friday that his country is &ldquo;not seeking negotiations with anyone, especially not with the United States,&rdquo; until the Israeli assault ceases.<\/p>\n<p><em>Mike Brest contributed to this report<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_2153087\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"2153087\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US bunker-buster bomb isn&#8217;t the sole option for targeting Iran&#8217;s Fordow nuclear site<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3468,"featured_media":2449857,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/AP25168317833252.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[49325,43955,57123,3823,38483],"class_list":["post-2449856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-bunker-buster","tag-defense-technology","tag-fordow","tag-iran","tag-military-strategy"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/AP25168317833252.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3468"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2449856"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449856\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2449860,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2449856\/revisions\/2449860"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2449857"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2449856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2449856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2449856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}