How bunker-busters and B-2 stealth bombers hit Iran's nuclear program

Code-named "Operation Midnight Hammer," the top-secret U.S. precision attack on Iran's nuclear facilities launched overnight was the largest strike using B2 bombers in history and it was the longest flight involving the fleet since 2001, Pentagon officials said Sunday.

The mission included the first use of the Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs, or MOP, which had only previously been used in a testing role, according to officials.

"Iran's nuclear ambitions have been obliterated," U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said during a Sunday morning press briefing at the Pentagon, following the attacks.

More than 125 aircraft participated in the mission, including seven B-2 Spirit stealth bombers which were launched from the continental United States shortly after midnight Eastern Time and refueled multiple times in midair as they flew 18 hours to reach their targets, Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during the press briefing. Other aircraft that participated in the mission included B-2 bombers used as decoys, as well as refueling tankers, fighter escorts, and drones that provided Intelligence, surveillance and target acquisition, according to U.S. officials.

Caine said that just after 2 a.m. Iran time, the B-2 bombers began dropping 14 MOP bombs in strikes on two of Iran's nuclear facilities -- the Natanz and Fordo sites. Each MOP bomb measures about 20 feet long, weighs 30,000 pounds and is capable of penetrating 200 feet deep inside a target before exploding.

Caine called "Operation Midnight Hammer" a "complex and high-risk mission."

A total of 13 B-2 bombers took off around the same time on Saturday morning from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, according to Caine. Six B-2 bombers were sent to the Pacific Island of Guam as decoys while the seven bombers used to target Iran's underground nuclear facilities quietly headed east to conduct the mission with little communication to avoid detection, Caine said.

Just before dropping their payloads on Iran's nuclear facilities, Caine said two dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired at the Isfahan nuclear site in Iran from a U.S. submarine positioned in the region.

The Tomahawks were fired before the B-2 bombers carried out their airstrikes, Caine said. However, because of their slower flight times and the distance they had to travel, the Tomahawk missiles did not strike their targets at Isfahan until shortly after the B-2 bombers had dropped their 14 bombs.

It was not immediately clear if the B-2 bombers sent to Guam ever landed there. All 13 bombers are expected to arrive back at Whiteman Air Force Base early Sunday afternoon, according to officials.

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

"A short time ago, the U.S. military carried out massive precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime: Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan. Everybody heard those names for years as they built this horribly destructive enterprise. Our objective was the destruction of Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity, and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world's number-one state sponsor of terror," Trump said.

The president added, "Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated."

During Sunday's press briefing, Hegseth said, "No other country on planet earth could have pulled off the operation," echoing a statement Trump had posted on his Truth Social platform following the attack.

"This is a plan that took months and weeks of positioning and preparation so that we could be ready when the president of the United States called,' Hegseth said. "It took a great deal of precision. It involved misdirection and the highest of operational security."

Caine said no Iranian troops or civilian structures were targeted and that throughout the mission, "we maintained the element of surprise." He said "very few people in Washington" knew the timing and nature of the plan and that congressional leaders were not briefed until the mission was underway.

Hegseth said the B-2 bombers, each with a two-person crew, reached the nuclear facility targets and struck them without ever being detected by Iranian forces, saying the stealth aircraft got "in and out and back without the world knowing at all."

Iran did not deploy its fighter or surface-to-air missiles during the mission, Caine said.

Prior to the mission, Israeli forces had spent about 10 days crippling Iran's air-defense capabilities, destroying much of its fighter aircraft and leaving the country's military airfields severely damaged.

While Hegseth and the White House touted the mission as a huge success, an assessment is underway to determine extent of the damage to the nuclear facilities, Caine said during Sunday morning's briefing.

"The battle damage assessment is ongoing but our initial assessment, as the chairman said, is that all of our precision munitions struck where we wanted them to strike and had the desired effect, which means, especially the primary target here, we believe we achieved destruction of capabilities there," Hegseth said.

Hegseth emphasized that the purpose of the mission was to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear bomb, a goal that, according to the White House, the country was just days away from achieving.

Hegseth also said that the mission was not aimed at a regime change in Iran. He said public and private messages are being directly delivered to the Iranians through multiple channels, “giving them every opportunity to come to the table" and negotiate a peace settlement.

"They understand precisely what the American position is, precisely what steps they can take to allow for peace, and we hope they do so,” Hegseth said.

Hegseth said that while "anything can happen in conflict," the operation is not open-ended: "We acknowledge that but the scope of this was intentionally limited," he said.

According to Caine, troops in the region were not given an advance warning of the attacks. In the wake of the strike, Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), overseeing military operations in the Middle East and Central Asia, elevated force protection measures across the region, especially in Iraq, Syria and the Gulf, said Caine.

"Our forces remain on high alert and are fully postured to respond to any Iranian retaliation or proxy attacks, which would be an incredibly poor choice," Caine said. "We will defend ourselves. The safety of our service members and civilians remains our highest priority.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.