<p >The Israeli Defence Ministry is currently considering plans to deploy special forces to penetrate and demolish the Iranian Fordow nuclear facility, according to informed sources cited by Axios, as a consensus remains that the very heavy level of fortifications against aerial attacks will <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/why-israel-cant-touch-core-iran-nuclear" target="_blank">render bombing ineffective</a>. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Ambassador to the United States Yechiel Leiter reportedly “also hinted in recent interviews that the IDF has options other than air strikes,” according to the report, with the neutralisation of the facility having been a key Israeli and Western objective for close to two decades. The nuclear facility was constructed an estimated 80 meters underground, with its hardening overseen by specialists from North Korea as part of a broader provision of over 10,000 kilometres of underground fortifications by the East Asian state for Iran. Investment in this costly hardening was done due to concerns that the United States, Israeli or other Western Bloc states could seek to destroy the facility, with the possibility of Western or Israeli attacks on Iran having been raised repeatedly since the early 2000s. Construction efforts were reportedly personally overseen by Myong Lyu Do, a leading North Korean expert on underground fortifications.&nbsp;</p><p ><img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/06/19/article_6853d1755dfeb9_14905132.jpg" title="Israeli Unit 5101 Special Forces Before Raid on Syrian Masyaf Underground Facility"></p><p >The Israel Defence Forces currently possesses no known means of seriously threatening the Fordow facility from the air, which is causing significant complications to plans to destroy Iran’s key nuclear infrastructure. Although the United States fields GBU-57 penetrative bombs with significantly greater capacities to penetrate hardened ground than anything in the Israeli arsenal, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/world/iran-nuclear-sites-may-be-beyond-reach-of-bunker-busters-idUSTRE80B0WM/" >serious questions</a>&nbsp;have been raised regarding their ability to destroy the Fordow facility. The use of commandos to penetrate the facility and plant explosives would be far from unprecedented, and would mirror a similar raid on a major underground industrial facility in Syria in September 2024, which was also reported to have been heavily fortified with North Korean support. The facility near Masyaf in the Syria’s northwest was destroyed after explosives planted by Israeli Air Force Unit 5101 special forces were detonated. With the attack on Syria having been launched at a time when the Syrian Arab Army was in disarray, however, and as part of a protracted conflict that had lasted more than a decade, the ability to mount a similar operation against a well defended Iranian facility is questionable. Should Israel refrain from proceeding with such a high risk attack, however, there appear to be few other means by which it could neutralise the&nbsp;Fordow facility even with U.S. and broader Western support.&nbsp;</p>
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