‘We toured the Fordow nuclear site many times,’ former Mossad chief says

Fordow, which is built deep inside a mountain, was struck in June 2025 with U.S. bunker-busting bombs.

By Pesach Benson, TPS

Former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen said Tuesday that Israeli intelligence personnel had repeatedly entered Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility before it was targeted by the United States, describing the destruction of the underground site as a long-awaited achievement.

“We toured the Fordow nuclear site many times in order to understand the site,” Cohen said at the Galilee Forum in Safed. He did not say when the visits took place or provide details about the operations.

Cohen said the U.S. attack on the facility during the June 2025 Israel-Iran war represented the culmination of years of concern over the site.

“Its bombing by the Americans was the fulfillment of all my dreams,” he said.

The United States attacked Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan on June 22, 2025, during the 12-day conflict. Fordow, which is built deep inside a mountain, was struck with U.S. bunker-busting bombs.

Iran subsequently said the attacks caused limited damage and that significant equipment and materials had been removed from Fordow.

Tehran also said damage at Natanz was concentrated mainly in above-ground areas, while parts of the Isfahan nuclear complex were damaged.

Cohen also downplayed the immediate significance of Iran’s stockpile of uranium enriched to 60%.

“Sixty percent enriched uranium is still far from a bomb,” he said.

His assessment contrasts with warnings from nuclear experts that uranium enriched to 60% can be further enriched to weapons-grade levels relatively quickly.

David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, has said the process could potentially take weeks or less, depending on Iran’s capabilities and operating conditions.

Israel has also assessed that Iran may have moved some of its uranium enriched to 60% to the Pickaxe Mountain site, a fortified underground facility about 2 kilometers from the Natanz nuclear complex, following the 2025 strikes.