This is Fordow, the Iranian nuclear facility bombed by the U.S. Air Force

In the early hours following a dramatic escalation between the U.S. and Iran, one target stood out: Fordow, a heavily fortified nuclear facility buried deep in the mountains of northwestern Iran.

Located just 20 miles from the religious city of Qom, the Fordow plant has long been a source of international suspicion. On his Truth Social platform, former President Donald Trump didn’t hold back: “Fordow is gone,” he declared.

But what exactly was Fordow—and what really happened to it?

What is the Fordow nuclear plant?

Originally built as a military installation, Fordow transitioned into a declared nuclear site in 2009 when Iran officially informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

This declaration wasn’t voluntary. Western intelligence agencies—including those from the U.S., U.K., and France—had already uncovered activities suggesting Iran was enriching uranium there. The IAEA later confirmed this.

By 2011, inspections revealed that Fordow was equipped to enrich uranium to 20% purity—well above the typical 0.7% found in nature, and a serious leap toward weapons-grade material, which requires enrichment to 90%.

The facility has capacity for nearly 3,000 uranium centrifuges, and, according to the IAEA, it’s the only known site in Iran where traces of uranium enriched to near military-grade levels were found—most recently in a 2023 surprise inspection.

Was Fordow really destroyed?

Here’s where the stories diverge.

Trump claims the facility was obliterated in a targeted U.S. airstrike. Yet Iranian officials have offered a different narrative.

According to Mahdi Mohammadi, a senior advisor to Iran’s parliamentary leadership, the site was “already evacuated” and its core infrastructure “relocated in anticipation of an attack.” Iran’s state media also claimed that locals near Fordow “heard no large explosions,” implying the area was either spared or had been strategically emptied beforehand.

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