Did America’s Bunker-Busting Bombs Really Fail At Iran’s Fordow? Tapped Iranian Calls Reveal A Different Story | World News
New Delhi: A secret communication between senior Iranian officials has sparked new questions in Washington. Despite a dramatic airstrike by U.S. stealth B2 bombers on June 22 – where 14,000-kg bombs were dropped on Fordow’s nuclear site – a tapped call suggests the damage was not what the world was led to believe.
This was not the first red flag. A classified report circulating within the Pentagon had already raised doubts. The preliminary assessment, leaked to select intelligence insiders, warned that the attacks may have only delayed Iran’s nuclear capabilities by months. Not destroyed them. Not dismantled. Just delayed.
The intercepted Iranian chatter, now verified by four sources familiar with U.S. intelligence briefings, paints a chilling picture. Iranian officials, speaking in private, reportedly claimed the actual impact of the U.S. airstrikes was far less than expected. They said Fordow withstood the shock. They said the core of the programme might still be intact.
But that claim raises a question – are the Iranians bluffing? Or are they exposing a truth the United States is not ready to admit?
A U.S. intelligence official, speaking to The Washington Post on background, warned against taking the Iranian chatter at face value. Signal intelligence, he said, often shows only fragments. “It is not the full picture,” the publication has quoted the source as saying.
This discussion has now spilled into political corridors. President Donald Trump doubled down and insisted the Iranian nuclear programme was “totally obliterated”. His claims became rallying cries for his supporters. But within military circles, there is caution. Some top officers even admitted that it may take weeks and months to assess what really did take damage, which is buried under hundreds of feet of reinforced concrete.
His words have become a rallying cry for his supporters. Yet inside military circles, caution remains. Some top officials admit that assessing damage buried under hundreds of feet of reinforced concrete may take weeks, if not months.
The White House, meanwhile, issued a rebuttal to the story. Press Secretary Carolyn dismissed the report as “nonsense”. “How would anonymous Iranian officials know what is buried beneath hundreds of feet of rubble? Their nuclear programme is finished. Period,” she said.
And yet, the lingering uncertainty remains. If Fordow survived, even partially, it would raise questions for both U.S. intelligence credibility and the effectiveness of its most advanced bunker-busting weapons.
One thing is clear that something did not go as planned. And the world may not know the whole truth for a long time.
