Israel continues its efforts to dismantle Iran’s nuclear capabilities. However, Iran’s most fortified nuclear site at Fordow, located two hours from Tehran, remains untouched.
Several military experts argue that a two-ton precision bunker buster, which is exclusively developed and owned by the U.S., is the only option to destroy the Fordow facility. Some sources suggest that this site could potentially produce a nuclear warhead within just two to three days.
Jonathan Ruhe, the Director of Foreign Policy at JINSA, discussed with Fox News Digital the use of bunker busters and the potential strategies Israel or the U.S. might employ to neutralize the Fordow nuclear threat.
Given that Israel is “very tactically inventive” and “very good at maximizing the capabilities they do have,” Ruhe says that Israel could achieve its goals at Fordow without the MOP.
Not only did Ruhe offer the unlikely but not impossible scenario where Israel might “storm the site in a commando raid,” but he said that Israel could use F-15s, escorted by F-35s, to deliver multiple 5,000-pound bunker busters over Fordow, utilizing the same burrowing tactic the U.S. would likely employ.
FILE – In this Oct. 25, 2015, file photo, a U.S. Air Force B2 Spirit stealth bomber performs a flyover at the Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Ala. (AP Photo/Mark Almond, File)
Such a strike, he admitted, would “achieve a more limited definition of success” than the MOP could.
Differing expectations for Fordow
The U.S. and Israel are likely to have different goals in targeting Fordow, Ruhe said. “Americans tend to think of obliterating targets,” Ruhe said, whereas Israel would “probably be fine with saying they knocked back the operations there by a year or so.”
Ruhe estimates that the bunker busters may not completely destroy the facility, but that it may be considered a success if it were to knock out the power source to Iranian centrifuges, or making “the air too polluted” for centrifuges to operate.
FORDO, IRAN — JUN. 14, 2025; Maxar satellite imagery overview of the Fordo enrichment facility located approximately 60 miles southwest of Tehran. No visible damage is observed. (Maxar Technologies via Getty)
Israel has “successfully knocked out the other parts of Iran’s fuel cycle” in Natanz and Isfahan, Ruhe said. “If you want to prevent a nuclear Iran, Fordow is a big part of that,” Ruhe said. “But it’s only just a part of what still needs to be done and thought about.”
Fox News’ Caitlin McFall contributed to this article.
