President Donald Trump announced that he will decide on joining the Iran War within two weeks. Beyond logistical and intelligence support, the most important value the U.S. military can add is deploying B-2 heavy bombers, which carry the 37,000-pound GBU-57, the only conventional munition that could penetrate Iran’s underground nuclear facility, Fordow. Without that, Israelis will have to rely on sequential bombing of the facility using 2,000-pound munitions and/or sending commandos to blow up the facility from the inside. A U.S. operation would be simpler. It would have an additional benefit: It could be filmed and used as evidence that the ayatollah wears no clothes.
Dropping a 37,000-pound “bunker buster” on Fordow will destroy the facility and neutralize the nuclear threat.
Nothing is more convincing for most people than seeing something with their own eyes. But this is especially true in a totalitarian society where everything is a lie, and people learn not to believe anything. Iran is a cynical society. To convince an Iranian, they must see it for themselves. Videos, as opposed to simple still frames, have the additional benefit of reliving the moment.
Dropping a 37,000-pound “bunker buster” on Fordow will destroy the facility and neutralize the nuclear threat. That’s military success. Political success requires forcing the regime’s foot soldiers to relive the moment. Watching the explosion in Fordow will be not only evidence but also a psychological shock to snap them out of believing their masters’ lies.
In 1911, a Russian tsarist warned of looming revolution. “As a rule, a regime perishes, not because of the strength of its enemies, but the uselessness of its defenders.” If mere public anger at the regime were enough, the Islamic Republic would have already collapsed. Its collapse will happen when its supporters stop caring for the regime enough to defend it.
This requires delegitimizing the regime in their eyes. The regime has already lost any claim to legitimacy except for its nuclear program. Destroying it will deal the Islamic Republic its last blow. Recording that moment will make it undeniable and impossible for the regime propaganda to spin. This, in turn, will accelerate flipping the regime’s foot soldiers against the state.
The practical challenge is that the GBU-57 penetrates the ground before exploding underground. The effect might not be fully visible from above. For the sake of stagecraft, it might be necessary to then bomb its surface facilities. Logistically, this also might require the U.S. to fly drones at a lower altitude to provide a live feed.
Ideally, Israel should take over the state television again to provide a feed for viewers to see live when Fordow is destroyed.
On June 18, 2025, Iran disconnected the internet and began jamming satellite signals. Israel responded by hacking the state television, calling for Iranians to rise against the regime. Ideally, Israel should take over the state television again to provide a feed for viewers to see live when Fordow is destroyed. The recorded footage also could be used in the future for anti-regime public diplomacy purposes.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his team are not proud Persians whose injured egos require them to lick their wounds, bide their time, and come back stronger. Quite the opposite. Humiliating them is like castrating them. It will tame the regime so that it ceases its aggression and fails. Furthermore, taming them will make it impossible to perpetuate the revolutionary spirit among Iran’s conservative youth, who are the vanguards of the regime.
If regime change without boots on the ground is the desired outcome, there is no substitute for humiliating the Islamic Republic on live television to its own supporters.
