How bunker-busters and B-2 stealth bombers struck at the heart of Iran’s nuclear program

Code-named “Operation Midnight Hammer,” the top-secret U.S. precision attack on Iran’s nuclear amenities launched in a single day was the most important strike utilizing B2 bombers in historical past and it was the longest flight involving the fleet since 2001, Pentagon officers stated Sunday.

The mission included the primary use of the Large Ordnance Penetrator bombs, or MOP, which had solely beforehand been utilized in a testing position, in accordance with officers.

“Iran’s nuclear ambitions have been obliterated,” U.S. Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth stated throughout a Sunday morning press briefing on the Pentagon, following the assaults.

Greater than 125 plane participated within the mission, together with seven B-2 Spirit stealth bombers which have been launched from the continental United States shortly after midnight Japanese Time and refueled a number of occasions in midair as they flew 18 hours to achieve their targets, Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Workers, stated throughout the press briefing. Different plane that participated within the mission included B-2 bombers used as decoys, in addition to refueling tankers, fighter escorts, and drones that offered Intelligence, surveillance and goal acquisition, in accordance with U.S. officers.

Caine stated that simply after 2 a.m. Iran time, the B-2 bombers started dropping 14 MOP bombs in strikes on two of Iran’s nuclear amenities — the Natanz and Fordo websites. Every MOP bomb measures about 20 ft lengthy, weighs 30,000 kilos and is able to penetrating 200 ft deep inside a goal earlier than exploding.

Caine known as “Operation Midnight Hammer” a “complicated and high-risk mission.”

A complete of 13 B-2 bombers took off across the identical time on Saturday morning from Whiteman Air Pressure Base in Missouri, in accordance with Caine. Six B-2 bombers have been despatched to the Pacific Island of Guam as decoys whereas the seven bombers used to focus on Iran’s underground nuclear amenities quietly headed east to conduct the mission with little communication to keep away from detection, Caine stated.

Simply earlier than dropping their payloads on Iran’s nuclear amenities, Caine stated two dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles have been fired on the Isfahan nuclear website in Iran from a U.S. submarine positioned within the area.

The Tomahawks have been fired earlier than the B-2 bombers carried out their airstrikes, Caine stated. Nonetheless, due to their slower flight occasions and the space they needed to journey, the Tomahawk missiles didn’t strike their targets at Isfahan till shortly after the B-2 bombers had dropped their 14 bombs.

It was not instantly clear if the B-2 bombers despatched to Guam ever landed there. All 13 bombers are anticipated to reach again at Whiteman Air Pressure Base early Sunday afternoon, in accordance with officers.

Following the assault, President Donald Trump addressed the nation from the White Home with Vice President JD Vance, Hegseth, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio standing behind him.

“A short while in the past, the U.S. navy carried out huge precision strikes on the three key nuclear amenities within the Iranian regime: Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan. All people heard these names for years as they constructed this horribly harmful enterprise. Our goal was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capability, and a cease to the nuclear risk posed by the world’s number-one state sponsor of terror,” Trump stated.

The president added, “Tonight, I can report back to the world that the strikes have been a spectacular navy success. Iran’s key nuclear enrichment amenities have been utterly and completely obliterated.”

Throughout Sunday’s press briefing, Hegseth stated, “No different nation on planet earth may have pulled off the operation,” echoing an announcement Trump had posted on his Reality Social platform following the assault.

“It is a plan that took months and weeks of positioning and preparation in order that we may very well be prepared when the president of america known as,’ Hegseth stated. “It took an excessive amount of precision. It concerned misdirection and the best of operational safety.”

Caine stated no Iranian troops or civilian buildings have been focused and that all through the mission, “we maintained the aspect of shock.” He stated “only a few folks in Washington” knew the timing and nature of the plan and that congressional leaders weren’t briefed till the mission was underway.

Hegseth stated the B-2 bombers, every with a two-person crew, reached the nuclear facility targets and struck them with out ever being detected by Iranian forces, saying the stealth plane obtained “out and in and again with out the world understanding in any respect.”

Iran didn’t deploy its fighter or surface-to-air missiles throughout the mission, Caine stated.

Previous to the mission, Israeli forces had spent about 10 days crippling Iran’s air-defense capabilities, destroying a lot of its fighter plane and leaving the nation’s navy airfields severely broken.

Whereas Hegseth and the White Home touted the mission as an enormous success, an evaluation is underway to find out extent of the harm to the nuclear amenities, Caine stated throughout Sunday morning’s briefing.

“The battle harm evaluation is ongoing however our preliminary evaluation, because the chairman stated, is that each one of our precision munitions struck the place we wished them to strike and had the specified impact, which implies, particularly the first goal right here, we consider we achieved destruction of capabilities there,” Hegseth stated.

Hegseth emphasised that the aim of the mission was to stop Iran from creating a nuclear bomb, a purpose that, in accordance with the White Home, the nation was simply days away from reaching.

Hegseth additionally stated that the mission was not aimed toward a regime change in Iran. He stated private and non-private messages are being instantly delivered to the Iranians by a number of channels, “giving them each alternative to come back to the desk” and negotiate a peace settlement.

“They perceive exactly what the American place is, exactly what steps they’ll take to permit for peace, and we hope they achieve this,” Hegseth stated.

Hegseth stated that whereas “something can occur in battle,” the operation will not be open-ended: “We acknowledge that however the scope of this was deliberately restricted,” he stated.

In line with Caine, troops within the area weren’t given an advance warning of the assaults. Within the wake of the strike, Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), overseeing navy operations within the Center East and Central Asia, elevated drive safety measures throughout the area, particularly in Iraq, Syria and the Gulf, stated Caine.

“Our forces stay on excessive alert and are absolutely postured to reply to any Iranian retaliation or proxy assaults, which might be an extremely poor selection,” Caine stated. “We’ll defend ourselves. The security of our service members and civilians stays our highest precedence.”

It is a creating story. Please examine again for updates.