The message was framed as historic and final. Trump described the operation as a decisive act in defense of U.S. national security, Israel’s survival, and global stability. Within minutes, capitals across the world shifted into crisis posture. Emergency calls lit up secure lines. The United Nations Security Council prepared to convene. Long-standing fears about escalation were no longer theoretical—they were present tense.
For years, Fordo represented the outer boundary of military pressure. Carved deep into a mountain near Qom, the site was engineered to survive conventional airstrikes. Its exposure in 2009 alarmed Western intelligence agencies, which assessed that its hardened design made it ideal for advanced uranium enrichment beyond the reach of diplomacy alone. Successive U.S. administrations relied instead on sanctions, negotiations, covert operations, and cyberwarfare. This strike marked a clean rupture with that doctrine.
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