US President Donald Trump says he’s nonetheless weighing his choices concerning United States navy intervention amid escalating hostilities between Israel and Iran.
Standing on the South Garden of the White Home on Wednesday, Trump mentioned, “The following week goes to be massive,” including that Iranian officers are keen to barter. Nevertheless, he warned them that “it’s very late to be speaking,” after they reached out to him.
Officers and specialists have instructed that the US’s 30,000-pound (13,000kg) bunker buster bomb is the one weapon able to destroying the Fordow Gasoline Enrichment Plant, a facility believed to be central to Tehran’s nuclear programme and carved deep right into a mountain.
The US is the one nation to own these bombs, which it delivers utilizing B-2 bombers. If deployed in opposition to Iran, it could characterize a significant shift from primarily intercepting missiles on Israel’s behalf to conducting lively offensive strikes in opposition to Iran.
What are bunker buster bombs?
“Bunker buster” is a basic time period for bombs designed to destroy targets positioned deep underground that standard bombs can not attain.
The US navy’s strongest bunker buster is the GBU-57 Large Ordnance Penetrator. Weighing about 30,000 kilos (13,600 kg), together with a 2,700kg (6,000-pound) warhead, this precision-guided bomb is product of high-strength metal and constructed to penetrate as much as 200 ft (61 metres) underground earlier than exploding.
The B-2 Spirit, a US stealth bomber, is at present the one plane designed to deploy the GBU-57 and may carry two bunker buster bombs at a time. The US Air Power says a number of bombs might be dropped sequentially, both by the identical plane or by a number of, permitting every strike to burrow deeper, amplifying the general influence.
Israel additionally operates US-made bunker busters, together with the GBU-28 and BLU-109, that are sometimes dropped from fighter jets such because the F-15. These weapons, nonetheless, have a a lot shallower penetration vary and should not able to reaching excessive depths of fortified websites like Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility. In 2024, Israel reportedly used successive BLU-109 bombs to kill Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in his underground headquarters in Beirut.
How deep is Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility?
Iran’s Fordow Gasoline Enrichment Plant, positioned about 95km (60 miles) southwest of Tehran, is constructed into the aspect of a mountain, reportedly as much as 80-90 metres (260-300 ft) underground, to outlive air strikes and bunker buster assaults.
Development of the Fordow facility is believed to have begun in about 2006, and it turned operational in 2009, the identical yr Iran formally acknowledged it.
Underneath the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, referred to as the JCPOA, Iran agreed to halt enrichment at Fordow and convert the location right into a analysis centre. Nevertheless, after the US withdrew from the settlement in 2018, Iran resumed uranium enrichment on the facility. Iran has insisted its nuclear programme is for civilian functions.
Fordow is reportedly defended by Iranian and Russian surface-to-air missile programs, although these defences might have already been focused in Israel’s ongoing strikes.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has framed the marketing campaign as a mission to dismantle Iran’s missile and nuclear capabilities, describing them as an existential menace. Officers have confirmed that Fordow is a key goal.
“This complete operation … actually needs to be accomplished with the elimination of Fordow,” mentioned Yechiel Leiter, Israel’s ambassador to the US, in an interview with Fox Information.
Different nuclear websites focused
Israel is believed to have destroyed the above-ground part of Iran’s uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, the nation’s largest nuclear web site.
In keeping with the United Nations’ Worldwide Atomic Vitality Company (IAEA), the ensuing energy loss might have additionally brought about harm to the underground enrichment halls on the facility.
Earlier than and after satellite tv for pc imagery reveals the extent of the harm at Natanz.
Israeli assaults have additionally broken the Isfahan enrichment facility in central Iran.
Potential nuclear and chemical contamination
On Monday, Rafael Grossi, the pinnacle of the UN nuclear watchdog, mentioned there was a risk of each radiological and chemical contamination from the broken Natanz web site.
Talking at an emergency IAEA session in Vienna, Grossi mentioned radiation ranges stay regular exterior Iran’s Natanz and Isfahan nuclear websites, each of which have been hit in Israeli strikes. Nevertheless, he warned that ongoing navy escalation will increase the chance of a radiological launch.
Fordow is positioned about 32 kilometres (20 miles) south of town of Qom, Iran’s seventh-largest metropolis with a inhabitants of some 1.4 million and a significant spiritual and political centre.
