The goal wasn’t to vaporize Fordow—it was to deny access and cripple operations. You don’t need to destroy centrifuges if no one can reach or run them. “Severely damaged” means the mission worked.
This fuzzy thinking is beclouding most of the online right and centrist libs. Meanwhile the pro-Iran shills are in outright denial. I’ll post a few of their gems later. I’m too tired now. (Cardinal rule #1 of travel in/out of NYC: AVOID PENN STATION IF AT ALL POSSIBLE.)
Pro-Iran X shill accounts claim that the centrifuges at Firdas (Fordow) weren't damaged therefore the mission was a fail. Total cope.
If you can't get to them what good do the centrifuges do? What are the Iranians gonna do, operate them with a laptop? That’s like saying “I have a fleet of Ferraris, best in the world, in the best garage in the world: 90 meters below ground in a mountain.” Then an earthquake hits. Then a hurricane. The fleet of Ferraris still exists but they are no longer YOUR Ferraris. The garage isn't a garage anymore. It's a car boneyard.
The centrifuges are now entombed in a mountain with collapsed tunnels, severed power lines, surrounded by smoking craters. United Road Towing is not coming to help. This is not the same as cleaning up some branches after a rainstorm.
Even if the centrifuges survived their operational value has been annihilated.
Iran can rebuild… OK.
I asked AI this. I admit it—I used AI! Not ashamed!
Here is what Co-Pilot said.
Restoring Fordow to operational status would be a monumental task—not just a matter of clearing rubble, but essentially rebuilding a subterranean nuclear facility from the inside out. Here's what Iran would be facing:
Structural Rehabilitation. Fordow was built 80–90 meters deep into a mountain, with reinforced tunnels and chambers. After multiple GBU-57 bunker buster strikes, the tunnel integrity is likely compromised, meaning Iran would need to:
Assess and stabilize the mountain’s geology.
Rebuild collapsed or fractured tunnel systems.
Reinforce new structures to withstand future strikes. This alone could take years, especially under sanctions that limit access to advanced tunneling equipment and materials.
Power and Ventilation Systems. Even if the centrifuges survived, they’re useless without:
High-voltage power lines (likely severed or melted).
Cooling and ventilation systems to prevent overheating.
Radiation shielding and monitoring infrastructure. These systems are complex, custom-built, and extremely sensitive to damage.
Centrifuge Reinstallation. Iran had reportedly moved some uranium and equipment before the strike, but:
Centrifuges are delicate and highly calibrated.
Reinstalling them requires cleanroom conditions, precision alignment, and months of testing.
If the underground halls are contaminated or unstable, reinstallation may not even be possible.
IAEA Scrutiny and Intelligence Monitoring Any reconstruction would be under the microscope:
Satellite surveillance would detect new construction.
IAEA inspectors (if allowed in) would demand transparency.
Cyber and HUMINT operations would likely target procurement and logistics.
Psychological and Strategic Deterrence. Even if Iran could rebuild Fordow, they now know it’s not invulnerable. That changes the strategic calculus. Why pour resources into a site that can be hit again? [Because they are insane, but I’m leaving it in.]
Experts: come and argue with me about this.
But you know what’s the most insane and disgusting thing about this?
Look at that checklist of things that Iran would have to do to rebuild - they did all of that to build Fordow (and two other ancillary sites that did other essential tasks, Natanz and Isfahan) — right under the noses of the Western power structure.
Don’t tell me that Obama and everyone else (sub in the names of every Western leader for the past 25 years) didn’t know every last damned detail of this.
They knew. They as good as admitted it.
Obama, Gordon Brown, and Nicolas Sarkozy publicly disclosed the existence of Fordow in September 2009 by during a joint press conference at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh.
But they didn’t disclose this willingly. They were playing catchup — with Iran.
Iran admitted its existence in a letter to the IAEA after realizing it had been caught. U.S., UK, and French intelligence had been tracking the site for years but kept it quiet to … well, why? The usual bullshit. That old can, that old road….
Once Iran went public, the power blob staged a dramatic reveal at the G20 in Pittsburgh to save face and reframe the narrative. Now they were going to do something.
Bottom line: they knew all along—and only exposed it when they no longer had a choice. And did fuck all.
This is not a breath but a tempest of common sense. Making the perfect the enemy of the good is the last refuge of people who hate themselves for being wrong.
The reason not to talk: sources. You don't throw your informants to the wolves, you don't tell them how to defeat your surveillance mechanisms.