To Israeli military planners, it is akin to Mount Doom: a tightly guarded nuclear enrichment plant, buried half a kilometre beneath a mountain, which is ringed by air defences and symbolically situated near the ancient religious city of Qom.
To Tehran, the Fordow facility symbolises its desire to safeguard its nuclear programme, designed to survive a full-frontal attack, with enough centrifuges and highly enriched uranium intact to potentially produce a nuclear weapon, or “break out”.
Buried under hard rock and encased in reinforced concrete that puts it beyond the destructive reach of any of Israel’s publicly known weapons, it is also a symbol of Iran’s strategic anxiety.
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