Key Points – President Donald Trump has reportedly approved a plan for a US military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities but has not yet given the final go-ahead, according to a recent Wall Street Journal report.
-This ambiguous posture, where Trump states “I may do it, I may not do it,” is designed to pressure Tehran into abandoning its nuclear program.
-A US strike would likely focus on the deeply buried Fordow facility, requiring the specialized GBU-57 “bunker buster” bomb delivered by a B-2 stealth bomber.
-Iran has rejected negotiations “under duress,” making the situation highly volatile as Israel’s own air campaign against Iran continues.
Iran Strike Plan Approved, but Will it be Used?
When is an approval not an approval? According to a Wall Street Journal report, President Donald Trump has approved a plan for a U.S. attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, but has held off the final go-ahead. The idea is to get Iran to fold, and “abandon its nuclear program,” the Journal said, citing “three people familiar with the deliberation.”
The Pentagon, per the Journal, confirmed that the administration is considering such plans, but the president has not given the final go-ahead.
Trump had said to the press on Wednesday, of a potential Iran strike, that “I may do it, I may not do it… I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do.”
“I like to make the final decision one second before it’s due,” the president said in those White House comments.
Israel has now been striking at Iran’s nuclear facilities for nearly a week, and reportedly has had some success in destroying some of that country’s nuclear infrastructure. Per the Journal, Israel has now struck more than 1,000 targets inside Iran, including “eight Iranian attack helicopters at a military base and 40 missile-infrastructure components in western Iran,” both on Wednesday.
While the U.S. has not said so, the assumption from many observers is that a U.S. strike would focus on the Fordo nuclear facility, which is built into the side of a mountain. The facility, per the Journal, is “considered by military experts to be out of reach of all but the most powerful bombs,” and Israel has not yet attempted to strike it.
A Difficult Feat
CNBC, this week, looked at why it’s so hard to strike Iran’s nuclear facilities, especially the “fortress”-like Fordo facility. It also shows that the U.S. is the only country in the world with both a “bunker buster” weapon and the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber.
“Built inside a mountain some 300 feet underground and reinforced by layers of concrete, the plant — which is the most likely target of a potential American strike — is impenetrable by any bomb except the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP),” the CNBC report said. “The U.S. is the only country in the world that has this ‘bunker buster’ weapon, as well as the only country with the aircraft capable of transporting and deploying it: the B2 Spirit stealth bomber.”
Therefore, a U.S. strike would likely use that weapon, targeted at that facility.
David Des Roches, a professor and senior military fellow at the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University, told CNBC that it isn’t as simple as just dropping a bomb on the facility.
“So you have two challenges. You would have to drop two of these penetrators at the exact same site,” he said, adding that multiple bombing runs would probably be needed, and that it will need to be checked whether the bombing worked.
“This leads me to believe that for those facilities, Israel will ultimately gain control of the air and then land forces on the ground, force their way into the facility by detonating the doors, and then go and place explosive charges, exfiltrate whatever intelligence they can get, and just detonate it from the inside,” Des Roches told CNBC.
The View From Iran
However, Iran has been very clear that they’re not interested in the “unconditional surrender” that Trump has demanded of them.
“Iran does NOT negotiate under duress, shall NOT accept peace under duress, and certainly NOT with a has-been warmonger clinging to relevance,” Iran said in a statement through Iran’s United Nations Mission, as reported by the Journal.
No “Great Surprise”
A viral message spread earlier this week, claiming that Iranian state TV had made an ominous promise that “Tonight, a great surprise will occur, one that the world will remember for centuries.”
This message was spread widely, but according to Snopes, no such actual message was ever sent by Iranian state media.
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
Iran War
30,000 Pound Bunker-Buster Bombs Might Not Be Able to Destroy Fordow
D-O-Y-L-E
June 19, 2025 at 11:03 am
(D-O-Y-L-E = Does orange yellah love extinction-level-event.)
Donald trump would be no different from hirohito who aporoved use of chemical warfare against the chinese to force them to surrender.
See showa chemicals.
Today, donald trump is relishing the prospect of earning eternal damnation for trying to emulate hirohito.
Russia MUST keep a close tab on the plans or actions of the orange yellah man.
If trump bombs iran with a colossal bomb, then moscow MUST quickly bomb kyiv with a nuke bomb.
What’ sauce for the gander is sauce for the goose. But to hell HELL with orange yellahs.