Israel Defense Forces (IDF) conducted additional strikes on Monday targeting access routes to Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility, following a U.S. attack over the weekend using bunker-buster bombs. The U.S. strike on Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan nuclear sites reportedly caused significant damage, with experts suggesting the Iranian nuclear program may be severely compromised.
Iranian state television claimed the site sustained a second attack, though details remain unclear, while the IDF stated its actions aim to degrade Iran’s military capabilities. In retaliation, Iran has been launching missile attacks on Israel, escalating the conflict further.
The situation at Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison is under control, Iran’s judiciary said, following an attack by Israeli forces. ‘The situation in the prison is under control and all means have been used to manage the prison complex,’ the judiciary announced via its Mizan news agency.
It said parts of the prison had been damaged, without elaborating. Video footage showed a gate being blasted open at the site. Meanwhile, Iran has been firing missiles into Israel in retaliation following the U.S. strike.
The U.S. launched a surprise strike using B-2 stealth bombers and submarines on Iran’s Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear facilities on Saturday. The underground site at Fordow required the use of sophisticated bunker-buster bombs.
Rafael Mariano Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Fordow is expected to have sustained significant damage from the U.S. strike.
‘Given the explosive payload utilized and the extreme vibration-sensitive nature of centrifuges, very significant damage is expected to have occurred,’ Grossi said in Vienna.
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters during a Pentagon briefing Sunday that while all three Iranian nuclear sites targeted in the strike ‘sustained extremely severe damage and destruction,’ the full battle damage would take time to assess.
Fordow was pictured in satellite images on Sunday showing from a bird’s-eye view that the U.S. strike had obliterated some structures at the site. In satellite images taken days earlier, trucks and vehicles can be seen at the Fordow site.
The IAEA has said off-site radiation levels have not increased following the strikes on three nuclear sites in Iran.
It remained unclear as of Monday whether any enriched nuclear material was destroyed in the U.S. strikes or if Iran had moved the material beforehand.
Fordow is built into the side of a mountain near the city of Qom, about 60 miles southwest of Tehran.