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The Need for American Involvement in Iran is Sold on a Lie [1]

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Date: 2025-06-21

I’ll keep this short: you are being lied to about the need for America (specifically the United States Air Force) to bomb the Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant to put it out of commission. Bombing this facility to remove it from the equation is a cornerstone of the “pro” argument for American involvement—for an example linked in Greg Dworkin’s recent Abbreviated Pundit Roundup, you have Michael A. Cohen’s “The Case Against the US Attacking Iran” on Substack. While Cohen ultimately argues against getting involved, he notes:

Israel cannot destroy the Iranian nuclear facility at Fordo without US bunker-busting bombs.

If you search around, you’ll find plenty of people repeating this talking point, usually followed by some discussion of the GBU-57A/B MOP (Massive Ordinance Penetrator). I won’t bother collecting further examples of this kind of assertion as they’re plentiful. You might also find some discussion as to whether MOP can actually reach the depths necessary to destroy Fordow, and how many of them would be required to ensure the facility was no longer usable. The argument is usually made that without the destruction of Fordow, Iran (under its current government or another) could reconstitute a nuclear weapons program, making all these efforts for naught (whether you agree with them or not).

None of that matters. It’s a talking point fundamentally predicated on a lie, regurgitated without thought, review, or verification.

I have plenty of my own thoughts on how Fordow could be destroyed from the ground by Israeli special forces, and how its destruction is ultimately meaningless for economic reasons as Iran will have far too many other things to spend money on rebuilding than a nuclear program. That said, I am also not a credentialed military or economic expert and those are just my opinions. That’s not why I’m writing this.

You don’t have to take it from me. You can have it directly from the Israelis themselves.

I happened to encounter the following tweet from OSINTtechnical on June 18th, wherein it was asserted that the Israeli government had informed the American government that if America declined to participate in action against Fordow, Israel could “do it with humans”. This presumably indicates special forces operations. I include a picture for clarity:

You might think this is a low-credibility assertion, since it doesn’t cite any specific officials or sources. Fair enough. How about hearing it from the Prime Minister of Israel himself, Benjamin Netanyahu? In an article by The Times of Israel from June 19th, you get the following account of a Hebrew-language interview:

Israel can hit all nuclear facilities in Iran, including the underground nuclear site in Fordo, says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a Hebrew-language interview with the Kan public broadcaster. Asked whether Israel has the ability to destroy Iran’s underground Fordo nuclear facility without assistance from the United States, Netanyahu says, “We will achieve all our objectives and hit all of their nuclear facilities. We have the capability to do that.”

I think this is rather unambiguous and doesn’t require any further emphasis or unpacking. The Israeli government has publicly asserted it does not need any American assistance eliminating the Fordow facility. If they’re saying it so publicly then they must believe it, and if they believe it then let them do it as part of their war if they feel they must.

Regardless of whether one believes the war on Iran is justified or not, and regardless of whether one believes that the Fordow facility must be destroyed or not, it is plainly evident that American involvement to destroy it is not necessary. The idea that only America can destroy this facility is being widely used as the lynchpin rationale for why America must get involved.

Don’t believe the lie.

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