We described earlier that the Pentagon’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) has reportedly informed American officials that destroying Iran’s heavily fortified Fordow nuclear facility might require the use of a nuclear weapon, based on The Guardian.
Officials, briefed on the limitations of the GBU-57 — a 30,000-pound conventional bunker-buster bomb — are worried that even if President Trump give the order it may not be powerful enough to reach and destroy the deeply buried site.
The report described that conventional bombs might have to be used to soften the terrain, followed by the dropping of a tactical nuclear weapon from a B-2 stealth bomber.
The latest reporting has sought to clarify that President Trump is not considering the nuclear option, nor has it yet to be formally presented to him by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. From fresh ‘anonymous’ White House statement present contradictory information.
So very quickly, here we are… there’s prominent public discourse about the ‘possibility’ or eventual ‘necessity’ of a nuclear bomb. As the Quincy Institute’s Eli Clifton observes:
It’s disturbing but not surprising how the entire Executive Branch communications apparatus can be activated into total war-hysteria mode seemingly overnight.
Israel is urging the US under Trump to target Fordow with whatever it takes, given it lacks the capability to carry out such a strike.
But at least it’s ‘comforting’ that a tactical nuke is off the table, for now… or wait:
“none of the options are off the table” – a fresh FOX report claims, citing a senior White House official.
Heinrich on Iran: An article stated that Trump was not considering a tactical nuke— that it was not one of the options that was presented to him. I was just told by a top official here that none of that report is true— that none of the options are off the table pic.twitter.com/rk6cFj4cIb
— Acyn (@Acyn) June 19, 2025
All this is premised on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that Iran is in fact pursuing a nuclear weapon.
Dangerously the White House seems to be siding with Israeli intelligence over the assessment of the US intelligence community, as presented by DNI Tulsi Gabbard, who may have already been sidelined in White House Situation Room discussions.
* * *
The Publication Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists are meanwhile warning that it’s possible that the Fordow enrichment facility could be destroyed and yet still it won’t make the Iranian nuclear threat go away…
If the Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear program, started on June 13, is to prove successful in preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons, then a necessary—but not sufficient—step will involve the elimination of the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant.
At the Fordow plant, located near the city of Qom, the Iranians have enough centrifuges (including IR-6s, their more advanced type) and uranium hexafluoride gas to produce several nuclear weapons. They could probably produce enough weapon-grade (90 percent) enriched uranium for one nuclear weapon within five to six days. Perhaps more important, Fordow itself is a hardened facility, built within a mountain and protected from many forms of attack. It could—in theory—continue to operate even after other nuclear facilities in the country have been destroyed, with its material then fueling nuclear weapons to be produced clandestinely.
If Israel decides to continue down the military path against Iran’s nuclear program, it has no choice but to ensure that the Fordow enrichment plant no longer poses a threat.
"The United States may destroy the Fordow enrichment plant. It won't make the Iranian nuclear threat go away," by @RichardMNephew. ⬇️https://t.co/2q46HIWPn4
— Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (@BulletinAtomic) June 18, 2025
Reprinted with permission from Zerohedge.
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