Former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen said on Tuesday that Israeli intelligence had repeatedly “toured” Iran’s underground Fordow uranium enrichment facility before it was targeted by the United States, describing the destruction of the site as a long-awaited achievement.
“We toured the Fordow nuclear site many times in order to understand the site,” Cohen said at the Galilee Forum in Safed, without elaborating.
The U.S. attack on the facility during the June 2025 Israel-Iran war represented the culmination of years of concern over the site, he said.
“Its bombing by the Americans was the fulfillment of all my dreams,” he said.
The United States attacked the Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites on June 22, 2025, during the 12-day war between Israel and Iran. Fordow, built deep inside a mountain, was struck with U.S. bunker-buster bombs.
Iran subsequently said the attacks caused limited damage and that significant equipment and materials had been removed from Fordow. Tehran also said damage at Natanz was concentrated mainly in above-ground areas, while parts of the Isfahan nuclear complex were damaged.
Cohen also downplayed the immediate significance of Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
“Sixty percent enriched uranium is still far from a bomb,” he said.
His assessment contrasts with warnings from nuclear experts that uranium enriched to 60% can be further enriched to weapons-grade levels relatively quickly. David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, has said the process could potentially take weeks or less, depending on Iran’s capabilities and operating conditions.
Israel has also assessed that Iran may have moved some of its highly enriched uranium to the Pickaxe Mountain site, a fortified underground facility about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the Natanz nuclear complex, following the 2025 strikes.
