President Trump said on July 21 that the United States could soon strike Iran’s underground “Fordo” nuclear facility, as tensions between Washington and Tehran continue to escalate, according to a report from ABC News.
“We’ll be hitting that area very quickly, and it’s going to be a very powerful attack,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
“Fordo,” located near the Natanz nuclear facility in Iran’s central Isfahan province, is considered one of Iran’s most fortified underground nuclear sites.
According to a July 21 report from The Wall Street Journal, Israeli intelligence believes that after the U.S. struck three Iranian nuclear sites last June, Iran moved thousands of uranium enrichment centrifuges to the deeply buried “Fordo” facility last fall.
It remains unclear whether Iran moved the centrifuges to “Fordo” to build a new enrichment plant or simply to protect existing equipment from destruction, the report said.
Trump first flagged “Fordo” as a potential strike target on July 13, calling it “a very good, very big target.”
When asked about the Wall Street Journal report on July 21, Trump did not deny it. He said the Iranians may have moved centrifuges there, but “we have no official record.” He added that the facilities alone mean nothing unless Iran possesses nuclear material. “We’re tracking the material. That’s the key.”
Trump has been weighing a military operation to remove nearly 1,000 pounds (about 453.6 kg) of highly enriched uranium from Iran. However, experts and former U.S. officials warn such a move would be complex, dangerous, and time-consuming.
Beyond the “Fordo” discussions, Trump also said on July 21 that there is evidence Iran is trying to rebuild its nuclear program.
“They might be trying to rebuild some facility,” Trump said. “We’re going to hit it. Any facility they even think about using for a nuclear program, we’re going to hit it very, very hard.”
According to Iranian media, the Khatam al-Anbia Central Headquarters of the Iranian Armed Forces issued a statement early on July 22, warning that any U.S. attack on Iran’s nuclear or other sensitive facilities would be seen as a further expansion of war in the region.
The statement said that in such a scenario, “all American interests, as well as those of its allies and supporters, will become a strong target for the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”