Former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen revealed Tuesday that Mossad operatives visited Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility multiple times as part of efforts to study and understand the highly fortified site.
“We toured the nuclear site in Fordow, Iran, many times in order to understand the site," Cohen said at the Galilee Conference. He also addressed the U.S. strike on the facility, describing it as “the fulfillment of all my dreams."
Cohen also discussed Iran’s uranium enrichment capabilities, saying that the country’s stockpile of uranium enriched to 60 percent remains some distance from the ability to produce a nuclear weapon. “Sixty percent enriched uranium is still far from a bomb," he said.
Fordow is one of Iran’s two main uranium enrichment facilities, alongside Natanz. Located about 30 kilometers northeast of Qom, the facility was constructed deep underground in the Zagros Mountains, roughly 90 meters below the surface and surrounded by hard rock.
The facility’s location and construction have made it one of the most heavily fortified elements of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and a major challenge for any potential military strike. Fordow was publicly revealed in 2009 after Western intelligence agencies had already identified its existence, making it a central focus of international concerns over Iran’s nuclear program and the 2015 nuclear agreement.
In April 2018, during the Mossad operation that obtained Iran’s nuclear archive, the organization acquired diagrams of the Fordow facility. Iran subsequently expanded its enrichment activities there and moved advanced centrifuges to the site.
On June 13, 2025, the Israeli Air Force struck Fordow as part of a broader campaign against Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. The facility was damaged but not destroyed.
Nine days later, the United States launched its own strike on Fordow, as well as Iran’s nuclear facilities at Natanz and Isfahan. Six B-2 bombers participated in the attack on Fordow, dropping 12 MOP bunker-penetrating bombs, each weighing approximately 13.5 tons.
Gen. Dan Caine, then chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, later said the bombs entered the underground complex through two ventilation shafts. According to his account, initial bombs were used to clear concrete layers that Iran had placed over the openings, allowing subsequent bombs to penetrate deep into the facility.