Despite the claims of U.S. President Donald Trump—that the bombing “totally obliterated” the Isfahan, Natanz and Fordo nuclear facilities—or of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, that the strikes “devastated the Iranian nuclear program,” questions remain about the extent of the damage, and the whereabouts of nuclear materials that had been at those three sites. Maxar images from space show at least six holes on the mountain above the Fordo facility, where, reportedly, seven B-2 strategic missiles dropped 14 of the 30,000-lb “bunker buster” bombs. Iran’s Health Ministry acknowledged that the strikes had wounded an unspecified number of people, but said none “showed any signs of radioactive contamination” after seeking treatment.
U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine deferred drawing conclusions about the strikes, saying that the full understanding of their effectiveness will “take some time.... Initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction.” IAEA General Director Rafael Grossi said: “There are clear indications of impacts, but as for the assessment for the degree of damage underground, on this we cannot pronounce ourselves.... No one could tell you how much it has been damaged.” He offered that, because of changes in the shape of the sites, “one cannot exclude that there is significant damage there.”
Heloise Fayet, a nuclear expert at the Institut Français des Relations Internationales, noted that the satellite images displayed activities around Fordo, which “suggest enriched uranium stock may therefore have been transferred to sites not monitored by the IAEA…. We previously had knowledge, albeit imperfect, of the program thanks to the agency’s inspections; now, no inspections are possible. As for Iran’s technical expertise, it cannot be destroyed, knowing that thousands of people have participated in Iran’s nuclear program.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said today on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that, while “no one will know for sure for days ... I doubt they moved the uranium out of the facilities. They can’t move anything right now inside of Iran. I mean, the minute a truck starts driving somewhere, the Israelis have seen it, and they’ve targeted it and taken it out. So our assessment is, we have to assume that that’s a lot of 60% enriched uranium buried deep under the ground there in Isfahan.”
