What is Iran’s secretive Fordow nuclear facility

Iran’s Fordow enrichment plant, located in the mountains south of Tehran, is a heavily fortified nuclear facility buried nearly 300 feet underground — and central to any attempt to build a nuclear weapon.

The facility, completed in 2009, serves as one of three major nuclear enrichment sites in Iran and is a launch point for transferring nuclear material to secret weaponization sites for breakout capability.

Iran could convert its current stockpile of 408 kg of highly enriched uranium into enough weapons-grade material for up to nine nuclear bombs in just three weeks.

A satellite image of Iran’s Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant on June 14, 2025. Satellite image ©2025 Maxar Technologies/AFP via Getty Images

While the base does not necessarily house the most advanced nuclear enrichment plants in Iran, it does have highly advanced centrifuges that have been a prime target for Israel.

Only America’s so-called “bunker buster” bombs are specifically designed to penetrate deep below ground to destroy the centrifuges.

While Iran has other nuclear enrichment bases scattered across the country, with another even more heavily fortified lab reportedly under construction, many analysts believe that the fall of Fordow would be necessary to fulfill Israel’s ambition of ending Tehran’s nuclear advancements once and for all.