When Israel attacked Iran on June 13, a ten-day delay occurred before US B-2 bombers arrived to target deep underground facilities at Fordow and Natanz. This lag, caused by the need for Israel to neutralize Iranian air defenses and the United States to prepare for the operation, created a critical window for Iran. Although the United States dropped powerful bunker-buster bombs, satellite imagery and expert testimony suggest Iran may have reinforced its tunnels with concrete to shield them from the impact of the incoming strikes and used that time to move centrifuges and enriched material out of some facilities.

The aftermath has left the Trump administration facing a self-induced dilemma regarding the location and state of the remaining stockpile, particularly at the Isfahan nuclear complex. Because the facility is too deep for conventional bombing to guarantee destruction, there is growing debate over a high-stakes ground mission to seize the cylinders that contain the highly enriched uranium. Such an operation is fraught with peril, ranging from the risk of nuclear criticality and toxic chemical leaks to the tactical nightmare of operating in an active war zone. Ultimately, if the United States cannot secure or safely destroy the material buried “under the rubble,” Iran may retain a residual nuclear capability that its new leadership could retrieve and weaponize in the future.

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