Blowing Up Fordow—Is It a Good Idea?

Israel has nuclear weapons. Iran wants nuclear weapons. Hostilities between the two have finally erupted in hot war. The United States is threatening to get involved. Some analysts worry the conflict could spiral out of control and draw the U.S. back into the Middle East, fighting the region’s major power.

What are the risks?

At the center of the question is a location in Iran called Fordow (sometimes transliterated as “Fordo”). It is Iran’s only major publicly known nuclear site that Israeli strikes have yet to significantly damage. Located roughly 60 miles south of Tehran, Fordow is located in a heavily mountainous area, and some estimate its tunnels to be almost 300 feet below ground.

Most militaries’ conventional munitions wouldn’t be able to make a dent in Fordow. The lone exception to this is America’s gbu-57, also known as the “bunker buster.” Dubbed by Axios as “the world’s most powerful nonnuclear bomb,” its explosion can hit targets 197 feet below the surface. For the bunker buster to be effective against Fordow, the U.S. Air Force would have to drop two at exactly the same spot.

U.S. President Donald Trump is reportedly undecided as to whether to intervene.

• Axios, citing unnamed U.S. officials, says President Trump has “doubts … about the certainty of success” for the bombs to actually penetrate Fordow. But that hasn’t stopped him from making preparations.
• The Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the deliberations, claimed “President Trump told senior aides late Tuesday that he approved of attack plans for Iran, but was holding off on giving the final order to see if Tehran would abandon its nuclear program.”
• Bloomberg reported, “Senior U.S. officials are preparing for the possibility of a strike on Iran in the coming days.” Some of Bloomberg’s sources “pointed to potential plans for a weekend strike. Top leaders at a handful of federal agencies have also begun getting ready for an attack.”

The next few days should reveal President Trump’s decision. What will be the consequences?

Bombing Fordow

The U.S. hitting Fordow would mean an unofficial declaration of war against Iran. Since Israel took out Iran’s air defenses late last year, Israel has been hitting Iranian targets with little punishment. America could conduct an operation with considerably less risk than if it had done so at this time last year. But that doesn’t mean Iran doesn’t have ways to hit back.

• Iran has an army of proxy militias it could activate to strike U.S. targets. Many of those militias are based in Iraq and could harm U.S. servicemen stationed there.
• Although the U.S. recently agreed to a ceasefire with Yemen’s Houthis, the Houthis could start lobbing missiles and drones at U.S. targets again.
• Iran could inspire individual terrorists to attack targets in America itself. It did so in 2022 when a terrorist in contact with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps tried to murder former Muslim and famed author Salman Rushdie in upstate New York.
• Iran could shut the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway connecting the Persian Gulf with the Indian Ocean, to merchant traffic. This would cause oil prices to skyrocket and cause a worldwide economic catastrophe.

There is a risk the U.S. would get sucked into another prolonged war in the Middle East. That risk is minimal. President Trump was elected on a platform to end “forever wars.” If he felt circumstances were leading America into Iran like they did to Afghanistan or Iraq, the president may push for a preemptive retreat.

What happens if America doesn’t bomb Fordow—or tries but fails?

Not Bombing Fordow

Fordow has an estimated 3,000 centrifuges. If it remains operational, Iran can continue enriching uranium. It would be much slower without Natanz and Iran’s other nuclear sites, but it would still go forward. And knowing America and Israel have the military will to end Iran’s nuclear capabilities, it would likely speed toward completing a nuclear bomb.

Israel has hit most of Iran’s machinery to enrich uranium. But the actual stockpiles of enriched uranium—enough to produce 10 nuclear warheads if enriched just a little more—are apparently still intact. Bloomberg reported that the International Atomic Energy Agency has lost track of where Iran is storing this material.

Whether America does or doesn’t bomb Fordow, the risk for the Middle East seriously destabilizing remains high. If Fordow remains operational, a nuclear Iran will be at the door.

Prophesied ‘Push’

The Trumpet watches Iran because of a prophecy dated to “the time of the end” in Daniel 11:40. It reads: “And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over.”

The prophecy continues through Daniel 12:1, which describes “a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time ….” This is describing a world war, and it starts with a “push” from a “king of the south.” Since the 1990s, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry has identified this “king” as radical Islam led by Iran. He has expected nuclear weapons to be part of this push.

Mr. Flurry writes in his free booklet The King of the South:

Iran is extremely radical—the king over radical Islam. Where is this nation’s pushiness leading? To war! Just as it has in the past. It is leading inevitably to terrifying war with weapons of mass destruction. It can lead nowhere else. Iran is preparing itself to trigger a nuclear World War iii! At this point, America has ample power to stop it but not the will. We cannot negotiate a victory. The only way to stop Iran is through superior power and the will to use it. A basic understanding of human nature and history should tell us this. …

No words will stop this king of terror. The Iranian leader believes that causing a nuclear cataclysm will hasten the coming of his messiah. No matter what happens, these religious zealots believe they are winners.

No other nuclear power thinks like that! It makes nuclear war inevitable!

Whatever happens in Iran over the coming days will play a part in the development of this prophecy. But it won’t be its final fulfillment. America is not the prophesied “king of the north” to come. Biblical and secular history show this to be a united Europe. (See here for more information.)

Mr. Flurry continues:

The blatantly bold and aggressive foreign policy of Iran must lead to war. It will either conquer or be conquered. Bible prophecy makes it clear that Iran will be conquered.

Think seriously about the fact that this will not occur at the hands of America or Britain. These nations aren’t even involved in this prophesied war! That is because they are going to fall into social and economic ruin before this prophecy is even fulfilled! The time when Britain and America were superpowers, or kings, is history.

Whatever happens in the Middle East, it won’t lead to lasting peace. It won’t lead to America finally solving the region’s problems once and for all. Expect it to be a harbinger of great trouble for the entire world. And expect America to be unable to do anything about it.

That doesn’t mean there is no cause for hope. Daniel 12:1 shows that the archangel Michael “stands watch over the sons of your people” (New King James Version). God promises supernatural protection for those who trust Him. The rest of the chapter elaborates this.

But when you see Iran pushing at its neighbors—when you see Iran starting a major war in the Middle East—when you see Iran risking the start of World War iii—it is time to get close to God.

To learn more, read The King of the South.