Ex-Mossad chief says they “toured” Iran’s Fordo nuclear site “many times”
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Former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen revealed on Tuesday that ‘Israeli’ operatives have toured Iran’s heavily fortified Fordo uranium enrichment facility several times in the past.
Speaking at the Galilee Forum in Safed, Cohen said, “We toured the Fordo nuclear site many times in order to understand the site.”
He offered no details on when the visits occurred or who participated, leaving open whether the remark referred to physical presence inside the underground complex or another form of close intelligence collection.
Cohen, who led the Mossad from 2016 to 2021, expressed satisfaction with the US military’s later strike on the site.
“[The site] being bombed by the Americans was the fulfillment of all my dreams,” he added.
Fordo, built deep inside a mountain near Qom and long considered one of Iran’s most protected nuclear installations, was among the facilities severely damaged by American bunker-buster attacks during the 12-day ‘Israel’-Iran war in June 2025, alongside sites at Natanz and Isfahan.
The former intelligence chief also addressed Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
“Sixty percent enriched uranium is still far from a bomb,” Cohen stated, a view that contrasts with assessments by some nuclear experts who note that material at that level can be further enriched to weapons-grade purity relatively quickly.
Reports indicate that roughly 440 kilograms of highly enriched uranium stored at the facilities was buried in the rubble after the 2025 strikes, though ‘Israeli’ officials have assessed that Iran managed to move some of it to the nearby Pickaxe Mountain site, which was not hit.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened further action against remaining Iranian nuclear infrastructure.
Cohen has previously disclosed that ‘Israel’ first learned of activity at Fordo around 2010.
The facility’s underground design and hardening made it a persistent challenge for military planners, and detailed knowledge of its layout was long viewed as essential for any potential operation against it.
The remarks, reported by multiple Hebrew media outlets from the closed-session conference, underscore the depth of Israel’s long-running intelligence focus on Iran’s nuclear program.
Cohen did not elaborate further on operational methods or outcomes of the reported tours.
