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Fordow, a crucial secret complex: What you need to know about the heart of Iran's nuclear program

2025-06-19 12:06:53Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA THOMAS LATSCHAN
Iran's secret Fordo compound

It is clear that the goal of the Israeli attacks on Iran is to destroy the nuclear program. Facilities in Natanz, Isfahan and elsewhere have been damaged. Now the nuclear bunker at Ford is also a target.

For days, the Israeli air force has been carrying out attacks on Iran, specifically on Iranian nuclear facilities. Israel suspects that the regime in Tehran is seeking to develop a nuclear bomb. Iranian authorities deny this. However, over the past years and decades, Iranian nuclear facilities have been built throughout the country.

It is believed that some nuclear research complexes contain large underground facilities where research is said to be conducted far beyond the level of civilian nuclear power use.

Serious damage in Natanz and Isfahan

At Natanz, in central Iran, uranium is massively enriched - up to 60 percent, according to estimates by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

For a nuclear power plant, uranium must be enriched to three to five percent, while for building a bomb it is necessary to enrich it to about 90 percent.

According to the head of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, the above-ground centrifuges needed for such a process were almost completely destroyed by the attacks. But it is not clear whether the underground part of the facility was affected. The power outage caused by the Israeli attacks may have caused the damage. Inside the facility, Grossi says, there may be "dangerous radiation contamination", but so far this has not been observed from the outside.

At least four buildings were damaged at the nuclear technology center near Isfahan. This is where uranium oxide, known as "yellow cake," is processed, which is a crucial stage for later uranium enrichment.

An important secret complex

In addition to Natanz, Iran has another important nuclear complex for uranium enrichment - Fordow. It is located south of Tehran. On a former military site near the city of Qom, the Iranian regime secretly built a nuclear facility at the beginning of the millennium.

There have also been Israeli attacks there in recent days, but so far there has been no significant damage because the Fordo complex is mostly deep underground. To protect it from IAEA inspections and possible attacks or sabotage, a system of tunnels 60 to 90 meters deep was built in the mountain range.

In 2009, Western intelligence agencies first released their knowledge of the nuclear facility. In 2012, the IAEA reported that Iranian scientists at Fordow had begun enriching uranium "for medical purposes" to 20 percent.

Since then, a total of about 3,000 uranium enrichment centrifuges have been installed at the underground facility. Although it is smaller than the Natanz complex, it is capable of enriching uranium to higher levels of purity, making the facility more important for military purposes.

Fordow, a crucial secret complex: What you need to know about the heart of
Entrance to Fordow

Was Iran on the verge of creating a nuclear bomb?

It is not known exactly what is happening at the Fordow nuclear facility. Although the complex is officially under the control of the IAEA, Iran has recently, especially since suspending the international nuclear deal, restricted access to international inspectors and dismantled some monitoring equipment.

In late May, the IAEA accused Tehran of increasing uranium enrichment to 60 percent. Iran is said to have possessed more than 400 kilograms of the material in recent years.

Further enrichment to military-grade levels is apparently possible relatively quickly. The Institute for Science and International Security warned in a report published shortly before the Israeli attacks that Iran, using known capacity at Ford, could produce 233 kilograms of military-grade uranium in three weeks, enough to make several nuclear warheads.

A difficult target

In light of this, the Ford facility could also be a target for future Israeli strikes. "At the end of this whole operation, Ford should be deactivated," Yechiel Leiter, Israel's ambassador to Washington, told Fox News.

Destroying a facility deep under the rocks would be particularly difficult. Military analyst Cedric Layton explained to CNN that Iran has installed specially reinforced concrete at the Ford to protect it from air strikes.

Although the Israeli air force also has weapons for destroying bunkers, it will likely take multiple waves of attacks to penetrate the facility's defensive shell.

The only Western bunker-busting bomb heavy enough to reach its target more quickly is in the possession of the United States.

The precision-guided GBU-57 weighs nearly 14 tons and was developed specifically for targets deep underground. But it is too large and heavy for the Israeli air force to deliver it to its intended target.

The bomb could only be delivered there by American B-2 or B-52 bombers. But it is still uncertain whether the US will directly intervene in the conflict between Israel and Iran. /DW

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