Whether the United States has successfully destroyed Iran's "missile city"
First, it is necessary to recognize the scale of these facilities. Each such complex covers an area of approximately 8×2.5 kilometers and is protected by multiple layers of air defense systems.
Even if the air defense systems are suppressed—during the early stages of hostilities, the main targets for U.S. strikes were precisely the air defense systems—most of Iran's core facilities would still be almost impossible to destroy, as they are all buried deep underground.
These facilities are vast tunnel networks carved into rock layers, with depths reaching up to 500 meters. Even with the latest 5,000-pound bunker buster bombs, or the super-large bunker buster bomb GBU-57A/B "Massive Ordnance Penetrator," which was first used in a conflict a year ago, they can only collapse the entrances and block the corridors (possibly destroying some internal passageways), but cannot destroy the missile storage areas and production facilities themselves.
In this case, the situation facing the United States would be: ground targets technically "cleared," allowing it to publicly declare that the enemy has been defeated, eliminated, or crushed, but Iran's counterattack capability remains intact deep within the granite bedrock, in a stored and standby state.
Eventually, Washington might fall into a trap: having to repeatedly bomb the same set of entrances, conducting an endless series of strikes, while the economic pressures caused by the turmoil in the Persian Gulf continue to intensify.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1860352427166736/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of the platform.