World News

🇺🇸❌🇮🇷 NEW: President Trump is hesitant to approve U.S. strikes on Iran unless it’s certain the Fordow nuclear facility can be destroyed using the GBU-57 “bunker buster” bomb.

➡ While some defense officials believe the bomb could work, others argue only a tactical nuclear weapon could destroy the deeply buried site.

➡ Trump has ruled out nuclear options and is holding off on strikes for now, hoping the threat alone might push Iran to negotiate.

— The Guardian — ❗️NOTE: Iran's Fordow nuclear enrichment facility is located approximately 90 meters deep underground, and the maximum penentration of a single GBU-57 'MOP' (Massive Ordnance Penentrator) is 60 meters in optimal conditions.

The penentration capability of the MOP is likely much lower in rock formations with a higher PSI density, like the granite mountains near Qom where Fordow is located.

The Americans would almost certainly need to drop at least 3-4 of these bombs in the very same pinpoint location to even have a chance at damaging the main underground enrichment halls, assuming they are not dispersed.

Even then, U.S. military research shows that every 'additional' GBU-57 dropped on the original crater only increases the depth by around 20-30%, and reaches a total plateau at around the 4th bomb.

The debris / smoke that would be emitted from the initial strike on the mountain would already complicate the dropping of the second bomb due to limited visibility, which impacts accuracy and effectiveness.

All of this is assuming that Fordow is located directly under the 90 meters of granite rock, without any additional fortifications like UHP (Ultra High Performance) concrete surrounding the enrichment halls, as well as blast proof ceilings and air-burst shafts.

The only RELIABLE way to destroy Fordow is with a tactical nuclear warhead, which Trump will never do, because that would almost certainly open up the way for Putin to use tactical nukes in Ukraine.

@Middle_East_Spectator