Fact Check: US strikes Iran’s vital Fordow nuclear site? Yes, but viral video is unrelated
A video of an explosion is circulating online, claiming it shows the US launching an airstrike on the Fordow nuclear site in Iran.
By Md Mahfooz Alam
Claim:The video shows an explosion at Iran’s Fordow nuclear site following a US airstrike.
Fact:The claim is misleading. Although the US claimed to have hit Fordow on June 22, the video shows a massive explosion in northwestern Syria near the city of Tartous following Israel’s intense bombing in December 2024.
Hyderabad: Amid the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict, on June 22, the US military launched airstrikes, using B‑2 stealth bombers, deploying massive bunker-buster bombs against three key Iranian nuclear sites, Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan.
In this context, a video of a gigantic explosion has surfaced on social media, claiming that it depicts the US strike on the Fordow nuclear site.
Serial misinformation peddler, Sunanda Roy, shared the video with the caption, “Massive Explosion at Fordow Nuclear site in Iran. Brilliant Job, US.” (Archive)
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is misleading. The video shows the Israeli bombing of Syria’s port city of Tartous reportedly in 2024.
A reverse image search of the video’s keyframe led us to the same footage, posted by the X handle, Middle East Monitor, in December 2024. The post stated that the video shows an Israeli bombing of Syria’s port city of Tartous.
It also mentioned that loud explosions were heard in the Syrian port city of Tartous. The post further claimed that following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, Israel carried out hundreds of airstrikes across Syria, seized control of additional Syrian territory, and announced plans to settle more Israelis in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.
Another X handle, OSINT Defender, also posted the video on the same date, stating that a massive explosion was seen in northwestern Syria near the city of Tartous, following an Israeli strike on a munitions depot.
We also found the video reported by NDTV, Times of India and Deccan Herald in December 2024. According to these media outlets citing the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), Israel launched an attack in Syria following the fall of the Assad regime. On December 15, it reportedly carried out its most violent strike in the region since 2012. The reports noted that the video, which went viral at the time on social media, showed an Israeli bomb detonating in northwestern Syria near the city of Tartous, producing what appeared to be a massive mushroom cloud fireball. The explosion was so powerful that it registered as a 3.1 magnitude earthquake on seismic sensors, according to war monitor sources cited in multiple reports.
According to a report published by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights on December 15, 2024, Israeli fighter jets carried out the most intense airstrikes on Syria’s coastal region since the start of Israeli operations in 2012. The loudest explosions were heard across Tartous, caused by successive airstrikes and the detonation of ground-to-ground missiles stored in warehouses.
The strikes targeted multiple military positions, including the 23rd Brigade’s aerial defence sites and headquarters near Harison, Katiba, Askabla, Dahr Al-Balotiya, Al-Kharab and Marsahin. Additional strikes hit two locations near Darikish, a missile depot, aerial defence positions near Malka village, and sites north of Sahl Akar. Missile launchers and bases in the 107th Barracks in the Zama area of Tartous countryside were also targeted.
What is the significance of Iran’s Fordow nuclear site?
Fordow is an underground uranium enrichment facility, carved 80-90 meters deep into a mountain near Qom, and heavily fortified to withstand airstrikes.
Israel sought US assistance to destroy the site due to its extreme depth, reinforced protection and the limitations of its military capabilities. The US reportedly deployed B‑2 Spirit stealth bombers, long-range, radar-evading aircraft and GBU‑57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOPs), 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs, to target the facility.
While US president Donald Trump claimed that the site was completely destroyed, Iran has not officially disclosed the extent of the damage. However, it has confirmed that the site was hit. Iran’s official news agency, IRNA, reported that residents living near Fordow ‘did not feel any signs of a major explosion’ following the US strike.
Therefore, we conclude that the US did strike Iran’s Fordow nuclear site. However, the viral video is old and unrelated. It shows a massive explosion in northwestern Syria near the city of Tartous following Israel’s bombing in December 2024.
