(NewsNation) — Newly released satellite imagery shows damage to Iran’s Fordow nuclear enrichment facility following devastating U.S. airstrikes that targeted three nuclear sites in the country Saturday night.
High-resolution images collected by Maxar Technologies showed large craters on a ridge above the underground complex at Fordow, one of Iran’s most heavily fortified nuclear facilities.
The strikes appear to have blocked several tunnel entrances leading into the underground facility with debris and dirt, per Maxar.
Interact with the images below by dragging the slider to the left and right to see the before and after differences after the U.S. strikes:
A layer of gray-blue ash spread across a wide area surrounding the facility, evidence of the powerful explosions from bunker-busting bombs used in the attack, according to the satellite imagery analysis.
The U.S. military used specialized bunker bombs to penetrate the underground facilities at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan, marking President Donald Trump’s decision to join Israel’s military campaign against Iran’s nuclear program.
The Fordow facility, built deep inside a mountain near the city of Qom, considered a holy site in Shi’a Islam, has been a particular concern for Western intelligence agencies due to its heavily fortified construction designed to withstand military attacks.
The image below, also from Maxar Technologies, shows several holes, which appear to have been left by bombs, with what appears to be ash around them.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Sunday that America “does not seek war” with Iran in the aftermath of Saturday’s surprise attack while Vice President JD Vance said the strikes have given Tehran a renewed chance of negotiating with Washington.
The mission, called “Operation Midnight Hammer,” involved decoys and deception, and met with no Iranian resistance, Hegseth and Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Pentagon news conference.
“This mission was not and has not been about regime change,” Hegseth added.
Caine said the goal of the operation — destroying nuclear sites in Fordow (sometimes spelled Fordo), Natanz, and Isfahan — had been achieved.
“Final battle damage will take some time, but initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction,” Caine said.
Vance said in a television interview that while he would not discuss “sensitive intelligence about what we’ve seen on the ground,” he felt “very confident that we’ve substantially delayed their development of a nuclear weapon.”
Pressed further, he told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “I think that we have really pushed their program back by a very long time. I think that it’s going to be many many years before the Iranians are able to develop a nuclear weapon.”
The vice president said the U.S. had “negotiated aggressively’ with Iran to try to find a peaceful settlement and that Trump made his decision after assessing the Iranians were not acting “in good faith.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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