NEWS

The questions persist on the efficiency of US Bunker Buster strikes Iran

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

While President Donald Trump said that the army weekend strike against Iran “completely and completely erased” his nuclear weapon manufacturing capacities, the “Bunker Buster” bombs have always been about whether the main Iran enrichment sites were sufficient to prevent the thug country from developing a nuclear bomb.

A Published report Last week, by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), explains that the “Bunter” Bunter “bombs that the United States used in Iran during the weekend that everyone is talking about, known as GBU-57 ammunition penetrates, or mops, may not be able to completely destroy the Iranian nuclear installation in Fordow. Fordow. Fordow. Which, according to Trump, had “disappeared” following the strike, is considered central to the manufacturing capacities of nuclear weapons of Iran.

Meanwhile, an expert in satellite imaging Reuters relayed This confirmation of the underground destruction could not be determined via alone images, because the hundreds of centrifuges of the establishment are too deeply buried in order to determine a precise determination.

An expert confident Iran’s nuclear program is “more” after a massive American strike

The airmen moving a bomb

In this photo published by the US Air Force on May 2, 2023, the aviators watch a GBU-57, or the massive bomb of ammunition, at Whiteman Air Base in Missouri. (US Air Force via AP)

“I actually have a little more pink vision on things,” Fox News Digital for Foundation for Defense of Defense of Democracies told Fox News. “I think that because of massive damage and the shock wave that would have been sent by 12 massive ammunition penetrators on the Fordow site, it would probably make its centrifugers damaged or inoperable.”

Stricker noted that centrifuges are “very delicate” and that the kind of shock wave from the mops would put them at least “out of service”. She also said that if centrifuges had survived explosions, it would be likely that they would be inaccessible by the Iranian authorities for several months.

“The underground installations have a difficult target, not only for destruction, but also in terms of assessment of monitoring battle damage,” added Wes Rumbaugh, a scholarship holder in the CSI anti -missile defense project. “The United States and Israel will probably have to invest additional intelligence resources to determine the actual extent of damage caused by the United States and its long-term effect on Iranian nuclear infrastructure.”

The satellite image shows a ford nuclear installation after a massive bombs strike

The Ford-Form nuclear site in Iran

This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows damage to the installation of enrichment of Fordow in Iran after the American strikes, Sunday June 22, 2025. (Maxar Technologies via AP)

In addition to Fordow, the United States has used its mops in an Iranian enrichment installation called Natanz, where, according to Starcker, at least 14,000 centrifuge are, as well as a above-ground enrichment factory and other laboratories capable of manufacturing uranium.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the laboratories above the ground had already been damaged by Israeli air strikes, destroying electrical infrastructure of the factory. Meanwhile, satellite imaging according to the United States’s decision to drop two mops on Natanz show two craters located where the site’s underground enrichment facilities are located. However, it is still not clear if the American attacks have completely destroyed the underground nuclear infrastructure.

In any case, noted Starcker, the important damage to the Iranian installation of Natanz will create a “bottleneck” in the country’s supply chain for weapon quality uranium, which will have a significant impact on Iran’s nuclear weapon manufacturing capacities.

Damage to air strikes on Natanz's nuclear installation

The Natanz nuclear site was visible on the left on May 20, 2025. On June 22, damage could be seen in the region following US air strikes. (Planet Labs PBC)

The third site targeted by air strikes in the United States was the installation of Iran’s Isfahan nuclear enrichment of Iran, but the wading was not used on this site. Instead, the United States has used Tomahawk cruise missiles, which the AIEA confirmed caused significant damage. Satellite imagery would display the installations above the Isfahan floor, but it is not clear the extent of damage to the underground sections of the site.

The United States is overlooking damage to Natanz, Isfahan nuclear installations, captured in satellite images

Satellite image of air strike

This satellite image shows the Iran Iran nuclear enrichment site after attacking the United States missiles against the installation during the weekend. (Satellite image © 2025 Maxar Technologies)

One of the biggest questions that are unanswered about the success of the United States weekend strike on Iranian nuclear installations is whether the country’s authorities were able to move their nuclear matters from targeted sites before the United States launched their missiles. But, according to Bumbaugh de CSIS, even if this is the case and Iran has moved its nuclear materials, chaos would still make Iran for “sprinter towards a nuclear weapon”.

“Having to move these assets to new installations probably degrades Iran’s immediate capacity to sprinter towards a nuclear weapon, but Iran will be very difficult to hide their new location,” said Bumbaugh. “This movement of nuclear infrastructure or materials would make monitoring strikes difficult if intelligence is unable to find all the new hidden installations.”

Click here to obtain the Fox News app

“There is a lot of alarmism to find out if Iran could sprint in a bomb,” added Stricker. “Israel has done so much damage to their ability to make nuclear weapons (and) the armament supply chain. Thus, the installations, the components that (Iran) would need, the equipment, then up to 14 nuclear scientists, I think that if they wanted to build a bomb quickly get there.”

Fox News Digital contacted the Pentagon and the Air Force to glean more details on the success of the weekend strike on Iran, but no new information has been gleaned.

An Air Force spokesperson confirmed to Fox News Digital that, in total, the American forces deployed 75 “precision weapons” targeting Iran during the weekend, including 14 30,000 pounds GBU-57 ammunition penetrates.

Monday, Rafael Grossi, head of the IAEA, called for immediate access to targeted Iranian nuclear sites in order to assess the damage which is probably “important”, according to the The United Nations.

Related Articles

Back to top button