- We The 66
- Posts
- 🌊 Trump’s 30,000-Pound Dilemma
🌊 Trump’s 30,000-Pound Dilemma
Only American bombs can destroy Iran’s Fordow site, analysts say
Did someone forward you this? Subscribe here free!
By Max Frost
So far, Israel’s targeted strikes have killed Iran’s top nuclear scientists, military advisers, and intelligence officials. They’ve devastated Iran’s missile arsenal and defense systems. Yet Iran’s nuclear program remains, at least partially, intact. And without American help, it may remain that way.
The process for Iran to make a bomb depends on a handful of sites.
Iran mines uranium ore, then processes it at the Ardakan plant into yellowcake, a concentrated uranium powder. That yellowcake is converted into uranium hexafluoride gas (UF₆) at the Isfahan conversion facility. The gas is then sent to enrichment plants at Natanz or Fordow, where it’s spun in centrifuges to increase the concentration of U-235 – the isotope needed for a nuclear bomb. If enriched to 90%, the gas can be converted into uranium metal, which is then shaped into a core and integrated into an explosive device, creating an atomic bomb.
Throughout this process are chokepoints – particularly at Isfahan, Natanz, and Fordow – that Israel must destroy if it is to seriously set back Iran’s nuclear program.
Israeli bombing has already damaged some of these sites, including the ones at Natanz and Isfahan. But the one at Fordow remains untouched – and that is where Israel wants the Americans to come in.
From above, you’d never know it’s there; it appears to be a small, desert plateau on a mountainside with a single white building. Yet closer inspection reveals five doorways – entrances to one of the world’s most secure nuclear facilities. These entrances take visitors an estimated 262 to 295 feet (80 to 90 meters) underground to a series of halls, which house 2,700 centrifuges, or devices that purify uranium.
The rest of this report is for paid subscribers, who fund our journalism. If you start a two-week free trial today, you’ll be automatically entered to win a free year. Once you sign up, you can access all of our articles here!
Editor’s Note
Thanks for reading. We’re interested to hear what you think about Trump’s hefty decision. Do you think that dropping the bomb – and therefore joining the conflict – is in the US’ (or world’s) best interest? Let us know by replying to this email.
We asked a similar question yesterday. Here are some of the reader replies:
Helen wrote:
Tucker is right. We don't need to be dragged into this. It's NOT OUR WAR. The US has this insane habit of sticking our noses into everyone else's wars and I'm glad DJT wants to stay out of it. We have enough of our own issues to clean up!
Ian wrote:
It is beyond belief that there is even one American who thinks it is OK for an extremist regime to have nuclear weapons. China allows N Korea to have its way because before Kim Jong Un even thinks about launching something that looks like it has nuclear capacity, China will flatten him before his heart beats just once again.
For Iran, let's put it in context: would that idiot Tucker be OK with say Venezuela having the capability?
The world has one shot at this, top leaders are calling for diplomacy, but has any of them volunteered human capital to mediate?
I'll sleep just fine when Steve, Tucker and Talsi are charged with endangering our way life. Lock them up as assisting terrorists.
I'm normally rational, but until they have met the Iranian leadership I'm sticking to my view. Attack with meaning.
And Toni wrote:
I feel that we should stay out of it. Of course Iran should not have nuclear weapons! They hate us. I don’t think anyone should. Sadly, that genie is already out of the bottle.
It is not our war. What Iran does as far as finance terrorist groups is unacceptable. What Hamas did to festival goers is also deplorable . Yet still, it is not our war and we need to build and take care of our country. America needs to be the strong financial and manufacturing power we once were. The American people need to flourish again and yet another war , sending our American troops back to the middle east would deflect all of that. Our men and women need to be here to defend our country. China is a huge threat to our nation. I would like to see us stop all trade with that communist country and be self reliant as much as possible. Israel is strong. They can handle themselves. It is time for America to take care of her own.
Looking for more to read? Find our most recent articles below:
That’s all, see you tomorrow.
–Max and Max