China’s June 2025 demonstration of a 1‑gigabit‑per‑second laser down‑link from geostationary orbit sparked sensational headlines claiming a weak “candle‑bright” beam had “pulverized Starlink.” In reality, the 2‑watt transmission was a communications breakthrough, not an anti‑satellite strike. Yet the episode sits at the crossroads of two fast‑diverging trends: (1) a legitimate push to replace crowded radio channels with…
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June 21–22, 2025 – In a massive overnight strike, the United States unleashed a coordinated assault on Iran’s most fortified nuclear facilities – Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan – under the code name Operation Midnight Hammer. This unprecedented attack, conducted in the early hours of June 22 local time, brought together America’s most advanced stealth bombers,…
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Prelude to the Strike: Escalation of a Long-Simmering Conflict For months, tensions between Iran and its adversaries had been building toward a breaking point. In mid-June 2025, Israel launched a daring military campaign against Iran’s nuclear program, saying it “wanted to remove any chance of Tehran developing nuclear weapons” theguardian.com. Israeli airstrikes beginning on June…
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Before the Strike: Trucks and Bulldozers Spotted at Fordow Satellite surveillance captured telltale signs of Iranian preparations at Fordow. On June 19, 2025 a Maxar satellite image shows cargo trucks parked outside the underground entrance of the Fordow complex foxnews.com. The next day (June 20) another image reveals bulldozers and heavy vehicles moving toward the…
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Dubai is internationally known for its cutting-edge approach to drone technology – and for having some of the world’s strictest drone regulations droneshop.ae. Drones have grown in popularity for photography, deliveries, and recreation, but Dubai’s authorities tightly control their use to ensure safety and security. If you plan to fly a drone in Dubai, it’s…
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SummaryNewly released high‑resolution pictures from Maxar and Planet Labs show the once‑impenetrable Fordow uranium‑enrichment plant gashed open after the 22 June U.S. air‑strike, with blast‑sealed tunnel mouths, greyed mountain rock and lingering smoke plumes. Image‑forensics, expert interviews and open‑source intelligence indicate that successive GBU‑57 “Massive Ordnance Penetrator” (MOP) bombs pulverised access shafts, cut external power and…
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A cascade of newly released commercial‑satellite photographs confirms that last weekend’s U.S. bunker‑buster raid on Iran’s Fordow enrichment plant gouged fresh holes into the mountain and triggered a landslide of rock and debris that experts say may have entombed the centrifuge halls. The imagery—captured by Maxar, Planet Labs and others—has become the centerpiece of a…
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In the 48 hours before U.S. B‑2 bombers punched bunker‑busting holes into Iran’s Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan complexes, a burst of commercial‑satellite photos captured trucks, bulldozers and security convoys swarming Fordow’s tunnel mouths. Analysts read the pictures as a frantic effort to shift centrifuges or shielding materials—clues that helped tip Washington’s calculus toward a lightning strike.…
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The Fordo (often spelled Fordow) Fuel Enrichment Plant – officially the Shahid Ali-Mohammadi Nuclear Facility – is a deeply buried uranium enrichment site about 30 km northeast of Qom, Iran aljazeera.com washingtonpost.com. It was built under a mountain on an IRGC military base and kept hidden for years aljazeera.com. Western intelligence eventually discovered Fordo and in…
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A wave of newly released commercial‐satellite photographs confirms that the 21 June 2025 U.S. strike package—which used B‑2‑launched GBU‑57 “bunker‑busters” and sea‑launched Tomahawks—badly damaged key above‑ground infrastructure at Iran’s Natanz and Isfahan complexes and cut external power to the otherwise deeply buried Fordow enrichment halls. Taken together with on‑the‑record assessments from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)…
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