OAN Staff Blake Wolf
12:31 PM – Sunday, June 22, 2025
Newly released satellite images showcase the aftermath of the 30,000 pound “bunker-buster” bombs the United States dropped on Iranian nuclear facilities.
The U.S. operation, known as “Midnight Hammer” occurred on Saturday night, utilizing over 125 aircraft including seven 8-2 stealth bombers, multiple fighter jets, dozens of air refueling tankers, as well as a guided missile submarine and multiple reconnaissance aircraft, according to Joint Chiefs Chairman Air Force Gen. Dan Caine in a Sunday briefing.
The attack struck three Iranian nuclear facilities including Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan.
Before and after images reveal the entire topography of the mountain protecting Iran’s Fordow nuclear enrichment site changed following the detonation of 14 separate 30,000-pound Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs, which is the first operational usage of this weapon, according to Caine.
“Final battle damage will take some time, but initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction,” Caine stated.
Entire sections of the once-brown mountain are seen covered in light grey ash with visible holes seen penetrating the mountainside.
Meanwhile, Iranian state TV channels are reporting that the enriched uranium reserves “had been transferred from the nuclear centers” to a separate location prior to the attacks, according to Hassan Abedini, a deputy political head of Iran’s state broadcaster.
Satellite images prior to the attack pointed out an “unusual” line of vehicles near the entry point of the Fordow facility, which may have been when Iran supposedly moved the enriched uranium, although the claim remains unconfirmed.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General confirmed the U.S. attacks while also noting that there “has been no increase in off-site radiation levels after the latest attacks on the three Iranian nuclear sites.”
“It is clear that Fordow was also directly impacted, but the degree of damage inside the uranium enrichment halls can’t be determined with certainty,” stated Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi on Sunday.
Despite Iranian state TV claiming that Iran moved their stock of enriched uranium, social media users argued that Iran may not have moved their stock at all, and definitely not utilizing the “unusual” line of trucks seen piled up at the Fordow site prior to the attack.
X user “@dataalerta” argued that the trucks seen at the Fordow site “are dump trucks, not uranium-shipping trailers… To move/transport uranium they’d use 48Y-type cylinders in sealed trailers, not open-bed trucks full of sand. Hauling uranium that way would be logistically unsafe, legally impossible, and operationally reckless. And if you, a civilian, can spot this on commercial imagery, do you really believe the world’s best-equipped intelligence services wouldn’t notice?”
The user’s argument may potentially point to the theory that the trucks were utilized to reinforce the tunnels leading to the nuclear sites in an attempt to dampen the effects of the U.S. airstrikes, rather than pointing to the Iranian claim that the uranium was moved.
The MOP “bunker-busters” are capable of penetrating up to 200 feet below-ground prior to exploding, making them extremely useful in this specific U.S. operation.
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