DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran is facing the possibility that its most important nuclear facility could be hit by a 30,000-pound American bomb.
President Donald Trump is considering a range of options, including a direct strike on Iran, White House officials revealed Tuesday. The U.S. leader has repeatedly insisted that his administration will not allow Iran to continue its nuclear program or gain the ability to make a bomb.
Trump called for Iran’s “unconditional surrender” and wrote on the Truth Social website that the United States has the ability to assassinate Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“He’s an easy target, but safe there — we’re not taking him (killing!), at least not yet,” Trump wrote shortly after declaring “total control” of Iran’s airspace.
The conflict, sparked by Israel’s surprise June 13 attack on Iranian military and nuclear facilities, has escalated rapidly, sending oil prices soaring and raising tensions in the region. Trump’s rhetoric initially encouraged diplomatic talks with Tehran but grew increasingly threatening as people across the Middle East braced for what was to come.
Yet destroying Iran’s nuclear program — which Tehran insists is used only for civilian energy — is no easy task.
Iran’s most advanced and hardened nuclear facility, the Fordow Nuclear Power Plant in the country’s northwest, is a fortress.
Built about 300 feet underground in the mountains and reinforced with layers of concrete, the plant is impenetrable to any bomb except the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), making it the most likely target for U.S. forces. The United States is the only country in the world that has this “bunker buster” and the only one with an aircraft capable of transporting and deploying it: the B2 Spirit stealth bomber.
That’s why Israel is so eager for U.S. participation in its offensive campaign against Iran, in addition to its defensive operations.
But military experts say the strikes themselves are not a one-and-done solution.
“So you have a double challenge. You have to drop two penetrators on the same location,” and that may require multiple bombings, said David Des Roches, professor and senior military fellow at the Center for Near Southeast Asian Strategic Studies at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C.
“And you never know exactly how much damage you’ve done to a facility,” he added, meaning ground personnel may need to be deployed.
"This leads me to believe that over these facilities, Israel will eventually gain air superiority, then send in ground forces, force entry to the facilities by detonating the gates, then go and plant explosives, leak any intelligence they can, and finally detonate from the inside,
A broader war facing the United States?
Israeli attacks over the past few days have severely weakened Iran's military capabilities, destroying most of Iran's air defenses, ballistic missile launchers, command and control nodes, and killing dozens of senior commanders.
However, such US attacks are likely to provoke an Iranian response to strike US assets in the region, such as embassies and military bases. Trump has made it clear that any attack on US personnel will provoke a strong US response, which will draw the world's most powerful military deeper into the regional conflict.
"The Iranians have signaled that they are prepared to attack US bases in the region if the United States attacks Iran itself," said Gregory Blue, senior analyst for Iran and energy risks at consultancy Eurasia Group, noting that US bases in Iraq are particularly vulnerable.