Recent satellite imagery captured on Sunday morning has unveiled at least six apparent bomb entry points at Iran’s critical Fordow uranium enrichment facility. This analysis, conducted by the Washington Post alongside multiple experts, provides the first glimpse of the damage inflicted on one of Iran’s primary nuclear sites following airstrikes by American bombers early Sunday local time. President Donald Trump proclaimed that these strikes “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s key nuclear facilities located at Fordow, Isfahan, and Natanz.
While President Trump emphasized the extent of the destruction, Pentagon leaders adopted a more cautious stance during a Sunday morning news conference. They reported that all targeted sites had sustained “extremely severe damage” and suggested a successful “destruction of capabilities” at Fordow. A senior Israeli official, speaking anonymously due to the sensitive nature of the intelligence, indicated that initial assessments described the Isfahan nuclear site as “annihilated,” while the Fordow and Natanz facilities were deemed “severely damaged.”
Experts in blast analysis have urged caution in interpreting the data, as the effects of underground impacts can vary significantly based on factors such as the depth of detonation and the geological conditions surrounding the site. Between 1:45 and 2:30 a.m. local time, satellites equipped for detecting fires and severe weather identified considerable heat-related events near the Fordow facility. These heat signatures were observed in areas believed to be utilized for air defense.
General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reported that as B-2 stealth bombers carrying Massive Ordnance Penetrators approached the Fordow and Natanz sites, U.S. forces deployed “suppression weapons” to counter any potential Iranian surface-to-air threats. Remarkably, Iranian air defense systems did not engage the U.S. aircraft during their ingress and egress from Iranian airspace, according to Pentagon officials.
At approximately 2:10 a.m. local time, the lead B-2 bomber released the first two GBU-57 MOPs on the Fordow facility. These precision-guided bombs, each weighing 30,000 pounds, are specifically designed to target subterranean installations. In total, seven B-2 bombers dropped 14 bombs across Fordow and Natanz. Satellite images taken on the same Sunday morning reveal two clusters of three entry points along the ridge above the Fordow facility, indicating a focused strike.
According to analysts, the strikes seemingly targeted the facility's 250-meter-long cascade hall, which houses the centrifuges and was built into the mountain before being covered. Wes Bryant, a former chief of civilian harm assessments at the Pentagon’s Civilian Protection Center of Excellence, explained that clustering multiple munitions around a single impact point is a typical targeting strategy for neutralizing bunkers and fortified structures.
Prior to the U.S. strikes, satellite imagery indicated “unusual truck and vehicular activity” at the Fordow site. On Thursday, 16 cargo trucks were observed along the access road leading to the underground military complex. Subsequent images showed most of these trucks relocated approximately half a mile northwest, away from the facility. Additionally, trucks and bulldozers were positioned near the site’s entrance, with one truck stationed directly next to it.
Spencer Faragasso, a senior research fellow at the Institute for Science and International Security, noted that the Iranian authorities may have backfilled the tunnels preemptively to mitigate the risk of hazardous material dispersal. Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Project at the Middlebury Institute’s James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, suggested that the Iranians likely halted operations and removed sensitive materials before sealing the site, further complicating efforts by Washington and Jerusalem to manage Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
As the situation develops, evidence suggests that tunnel entrances near where trucks were observed may have been filled with dirt, either due to the shock wave from the bombing or as a result of prior Iranian activities. A layer of gray-blue ash, composed of debris from the facility, now spreads across the surrounding sand.
This is a developing story, and updates will be provided as more information becomes available. Contributions to this report were made by Jonathan Baran, Alex Horton, and Souad Mekhennet.
Correction: A previous version of this story inaccurately stated that only two bombs were dropped on Fordow and a dozen on Natanz and Isfahan, misrepresenting the names of the Iranian facilities. Clarification indicates that at least six bombs were dropped on Fordow.
