First satellite images of Fordow after US bunker buster bomb strike show extensive damage

The first satellite images from Iran’s Fordow nuclear enrichment site show that part of the mountain protecting the facility was completely obliterated by US bunker buster bomb strikes Saturday.

Possible bomb entry points and rubble was visible following President Trump’s surprise B-2 stealth bomber attack overnight, the images taken by Maxar Technologies show.

The once-brown mountainside turned gray in parts, with the entire topography of the area changed by the detonation of 14 30,000-pound Massive Ordinance Penetrator (MOP) bombs.

Light gray smoke also appears to be hanging in the air over the site, around 100 miles south of Tehran, the images show.

Other high-resolution satellite images suggest Iran sealed up the tunnel entrances at Fordow before the attack.

An artery of roads lead to the facility, with pre-images showing many vehicles lined up close to the entry points.The Fordow site suffered “major damage” in the strike along with a second site in Esfahan, while the nuclear site in Natanz has been destroyed, sources told the Jerusalem Post on Sunday.

Tehran is yet to issue a damage assessment of the site.

Iran reportedly evacuated Fordow some time ago, according to state TV.

“The enriched uranium reserves had been transferred from the nuclear centers and there are no materials left there that, if targeted, would cause radiation and be harmful to our compatriots,” Hassan Abedini, deputy political head of Iran’s state broadcaster, said following the attack, according to Reuters.

Fordow is buried deep under a mountain near the city of Qom, meaning the tactics deployed by the US and Israel were to cause a cave-in or subsidence onto the site, according to military sources.

At around 54,000 square feet in size, it contained some 3,000 centrifuges.

Israel lacked the ordnance to take out Fordow on its own in the short term, which is why the US GBU-57, carried out by US B-2 bombers, was requested, according to Heather Williams from the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The GBU-57, a 30,000-pound so-called bunker-busting bomb, is capable of penetrating up to 200 feet underground before exploding.

Developed in the early 2000s, it can even go through rock or concrete before the warhead explodes.