With the start of Operation "Midnight Hammer" on Saturday, a group of B-2 bombers took off from their base in Missouri and were seen heading towards the Pacific island of Guam. Experts have identified the move as a possible preliminary position for a possible US decision to strike Iran, writes "Reuters".
However, these bombers were a decoy. The real group of seven B-2 stealth bombers flew east undetected for 18 hours, keeping communications to a minimum and refueling in mid-air, the US military revealed yesterday.
As the bombers approached Iranian airspace, a US submarine fired more than two dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles. US fighter jets flew as decoys ahead of the bombers to watch for Iranian fighters and missiles.
The attack on Iran's three main nuclear sites was the largest operational strike ever carried out by B-2 stealth bombers and the second-longest operation ever conducted by the aircraft, surpassed only by those after the Al Qaeda attacks. against the United States on September 11, 2001.
The B-2 bombers launched 14 GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators, each weighing 30,000 pounds. The Pentagon says the operation involved more than 125 U.S. military aircraft.
From the U.S. military's perspective, the operation was a huge tactical success. The Iranians failed to fire a single missile at the U.S. aircraft and were completely surprised, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Kane said at the Pentagon.
"The Iranian fighters were not flying and it appears that the Iranian surface-to-air missile systems did not detect us during the entire mission," Kane noted. "We maintained the element of surprise".
He said initial damage assessments indicated that all three targets had suffered extremely serious damage and destruction, but declined to speculate whether some Iranian nuclear capabilities might have remained intact.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was more confident.
"It was clear that we had destroyed the Iranian nuclear program," he said.
"Midnight Hammer" was a highly classified operation, with very few people in Washington knowing about the timing or nature of the plan, Kane noted. Many senior officials in the United States only learned about it on Saturday night from President Donald Trump's first social media post.
Hegseth explained that months of preparation were needed to ensure that the US military would be ready if Trump ordered the strikes. However, Kane clarified that the mission itself took place in just a few weeks. What will happen next is unclear. The Persian Gulf states, which host numerous US military bases, were on heightened alert yesterday and are assessing the risks of a widening conflict in the region. Guarding against a retaliatory strike, the US military has dispersed US military assets in the Middle East and strengthened the protection of US troops. Hegseth said that the US military is positioned to defend itself in the Middle East, but also to respond to Iran if it continues with its long-standing threats of retaliation. The Trump administration has clarified that it is not seeking a wider war with Iran. Hegseth said that private messages had been sent to Tehran encouraging them to negotiate.
However, Trump warned Iran that the United States was prepared to strike additional targets if necessary, using much greater force.
"Iran would be wise to heed these words. They have said it before and they mean it," Hegseth stressed.