However, the crown jewel of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear programme, a sprawling uranium enrichment facility built deep under a mountain in Fordow remains out of reach of Israel’s conventional weapons. It can only be destroyed with American “bunker-buster” bombs carried by B-2 Stealth fighters.

Hours of talks aimed at de-escalating fighting between Israel and Iran failed to produce a diplomatic breakthrough as the war entered its second week with a fresh round of strikes between the two adversaries.