The missiles Trump used for the first time in Iran to destroy buried nuclear plants

BarcelonaThe US attack on Iran has focused on three nuclear facilities – Fordow, Natanz and Esfahan – where, according to Tel Aviv and Washington, the ayatollahs' regime was working to develop the atomic bomb, although Reports from the same US intelligence denied itIsrael had already launched attacks on Natanz and Esfahan, but not on Fordow, because its completely buried location made it impervious to Israeli bombs.

To penetrate the eighty meters of rock and earth protecting the Fordow plant, a GBU-57 missile was needed, a type of bunker-busting bomb that only the United States has and which, in fact, was used in combat for the first time in this attack.

In Operation Midnight Hammer, as the Pentagon has dubbed it, a total of 14 GBU-57 bunker-busting bombs have been dropped, according to General Dan Caine. These bombs are designed to explode twice: the first time to break the surface and the second time when the bomb is already at a certain depth. They can penetrate up to 60 meters into reinforced concrete and then more can be dropped on top to achieve greater penetration. Seven B-2 fighter jets were used in the operation, aircraft only available to the United States and the only ones from which the GBU-57s, which weigh 13,000 kilos, can be dropped.

The first two GBU-57 bombs fell on Fordow at 2:40 a.m. on Sunday (Iranian time), while the Esfahan power plant, much further south and much less impregnable, was attacked with submarine-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles. According to the New York TimesTwo GBU-57 bombs were dropped on Natanz, which also had a buried section. With its attacks last week, Israel had already managed to destroy the entire surface of the Natanz plant, but it was not known whether it had been affected. the underground part, where the centrifuges that enriched the uranium were locatedThis Sunday, following the attack, the United States claimed that both this and the other two nuclear plants had been completely "destroyed."

All three plants were used to enrich uranium, and the United States and Israel claimed that this enrichment had exceeded 60%, a level at which it became suitable for making atomic bombs. Eighty meters underground, the Fordow plant had 3,000 uranium centrifuges in sixteen cascades, and there the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had obtained samples of 83% enriched uranium. These samples were used as evidence of Iran's desire to obtain the atomic bomb, although the IAEA denied this and attributed it to "unwanted fluctuations."

According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), "the [Fordow] facility could increase enrichment from the 60% to the 90% needed for nuclear weapons." The IAEA was responsible between 2016 and 2019, and since Trump broke the agreement during his first term, the information they received became progressively less. the beginning of the attacksSeveral US media outlets had speculated about the president's interest in dismantling the plant. CBS News reported this week that sources close to the president said he was "considering bombing the plant" and that he believed it was the only way to "finish the job." Israel was clear: "This entire operation..." the Israeli ambassador to the United States in an interview on Fox News last Friday.