A senior Israeli military official disclosed that Israel possesses both a comprehensive strategy for targeting Iran's Fordow uranium-enrichment facility and the operational capacity to execute such an assault independently, though specific details were not provided, according to The Wall Street Journal. The revelation comes as military planners are expanding their operational scope beyond traditional targets to include Iran's nuclear scientific personnel and military command structure alongside the physical infrastructure of Tehran's atomic program.
Ehud Eilam, who previously conducted research for Israel's Ministry of Defense, outlined multiple potential approaches Israel could employ against the mountain-buried facility. The former defense researcher suggested Israel might deploy numerous smaller penetrating munitions to burrow into Fordow's defenses, employing tactics similar to those used in the elimination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, who was killed in an underground bunker beneath Beirut, The Wall Street Journal reported. Alternative scenarios include high-risk special operations missions or covert methodologies such as cyber warfare and targeted assassinations of key personnel.
The most promising option for neutralizing Iran's most heavily fortified nuclear installation centers on an American-made weapon system that has never been deployed in combat operations, military analysts told The Wall Street Journal. The GBU-57 – commonly known as the Massive Ordnance Penetrator – represents a 30,000-pound armament encased in high-density steel alloy engineering, specifically designed to penetrate 200 feet of mountain rock before detonation.
Defense experts emphasized that this massive bunker-penetrating weapon offers the optimal chance of successfully breaching targets such as the Fordow uranium-enrichment complex, which Iranian engineers constructed beneath mountainous terrain. The weapon's existence has fueled widespread speculation regarding potential US involvement in any Israeli military action against Iran's nuclear infrastructure.
"This is really what it was designed for," Mark Cancian explained to The Wall Street Journal. Cancian, who previously coordinated target-weapon matching for military operations and later served at the Pentagon overseeing procurement and budgeting for programs including the MOP, emphasized the weapon's specific purpose. Before the development of specialized bunker-penetrating munitions, military planners considered nuclear weapons as the primary method for destroying mountain-protected targets, but such options were deemed politically unacceptable, Cancian noted. He currently serves as a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
When questioned aboard Air Force One regarding guarantees that US-manufactured bombs could successfully reach and destroy Iran's underground nuclear bunkers, Trump responded candidly. "There's no guarantee in anything," the president stated, according to The Wall Street Journal. Simultaneously, Trump delivered a stern warning to Iranian leadership, emphasizing that any attacks on American military personnel stationed in the region would trigger a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict. "We'll come down so hard, it'd be gloves off," Trump declared.
