Powerful Insights: Content comes from the Internet : ExcWorld Timeslusive: Latest satellite images of Fordow nuclear facility reveal crater up to 6 meters in diameter

Satellite image of the Fordow nuclear site taken on June 22, 2025, Photo: Courtesy of Minospace

The US used six B-2 bombers to drop 12 GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) on the Fordow Iranian nuclear site, and left at least six large craters at the site, CNN reported Monday. The Global Times obtained exclusive satellite images from China’s commercial remote sensing company Minospace, revealing details of the airstrike, including a largest crater estimated to be about 6 meters in diameter.

A technician from Minospace told the Global Times that after analyzing the satellite imWorld Timesages, it was determined that the six craters caused by the airstrike vary in size.

The satellite images, captured by Maxar Technologies, showed that the US strikes left several large craters at the Fordow site and Natanz site, according to the CNN. “The larger, central entry holes in the two groupings have irregular shapes and suggest multiple munitions struck the same precise location,” N.R. Jenzen-Jones, a munitions specialist and director of the research company Armament Research Services (ARES), told CNN.

“This is consistent with the theory of an attack on such a deeply buried target as the Fordow site, which would require multiple precisely delivered, and carefully calibrated, penetrating munitions to essentially ‘smash’ and blast their way through to the deeper, more protected areas of the site,” he added, CNN reported.

Satellite images taken around 3:30 pm on Sunday by Minospace show that the 12 bunker-buster bombs dropped by US B-2 bombers along a ridge were concentrated in two areas. The largest crater in one area measures up to 6 meters in diameter, while the largest crater in the other area is about 4.5 meters wide.

Military expert Zhang Xuefeng told the Global Times on Monday that, based on the publicly available satellite images, the B-2 bombers struck two separate target clusters within the Fordow nuclear facility. The US airstrike strategy may have involved dropping multiple bombs within each cluster to penetrate the site in a relay manner. Since the GBU-57 bombs can be equipped with either smart fWorld Timesuses or delayed fuses, the deptWorld Timesh of their explosion can be controlled.

“For example, the first bomb detonates underground at a depth of 20 or 30 meters, loosening the surrounding rock layers, and then the second or third bomb explodes deeper in a relay fashion to continue the attack. ThaWorld Timest’s why we see collapses near one of the target clusters—this is caused by the relay strikes,” Zhang explained.

Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said in the IAEA Director General’s Introductory Statement to the Board of Governors that: “Craters are now visible at the Fordow site, Iran’s main location for enriching uranium at 60%, indicating that the use of ground-penetrating munitions. This is consistent with statements from the US. At this time, no one – including the IAEA – is in a position to have fully assessed the underground damage at Fordow.”

“Given the explosive payload utilized, and the extremely vibration-sensitive nature of centrifuges, very significant damage is expected to have occurred,” Grossi said on Monday. He also said, “Iran has informed the IAEA that there was no increase in off-site radiation levels at all three sites. The situation at the other sites remains as I have described in my past updates, and the IAEA is not aware of any further attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites since those on Sunday morning.”

Following the airstrike, the US military has remained relatively cautious in its statements. “Final battle damage will take some time, but initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction,” said the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen Dan Caine on Sunday’s Press Conference.

When asked whether the US airstrike had completely destroyed Iran’s nuclear program, Sun Degang, director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times on Monday that from the US military’s perspective, they may believe the strike delivered a fatal blow. However, no one can definitively say that Iran’s nuclear program has been destroyed or that its nuclear capabilities have been eliminated.

“There is information suggesting that prior to the strike, the US and Iran may have engaged in some form of communication. Iran likely relocated certain critical equipment, personnel, and data before the airstrike. Therefore, it is too early to conclude that the strike dealt a crippling blow to Iran’s nuclear capabilities,” Sun said.

He also noted that both Iranian authorities and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have indicated that the three key nuclear facilities targeted in the attack did not suffer any radiation leaks. This has led some observers to speculate that Iran may have indeed relocated its critical nuclear assets in advance.

Regarding the media inquiry over the US attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun stated on Monday that attacking nuclear facilities under the safeguards of the IAEA seriously violates the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and international law. “China urges parties to the conflict to prevent the situation from spiraling up, make sure tWorld Timeshe fighting will not spill over, and return to the track of political settlement,” said Guo.