US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine on Sunday delivered a press briefing, providing details of the air strikes and bombing raids on Iranian nuclear facilities.
US President Donald Trump said US air strikes on Sunday “totally obliterated” Iran’s main nuclear sites, as Washington joined Israel’s war with Tehran in a flashpoint moment for the Middle East.
The US operation, called Midnight Hammer, was described by Gen Caine as the “largest B-2 operational strike in US history”, which inflicted “extremely severe damage and destruction” to the targets, US outlet CBS News reported.
“This was a highly classified mission with very few people in Washington knowing the timing or nature of this plan,” Gen Caine said, adding that seven B-2 Spirit stealth bombers flew east from their base in Missouri to participate in the mission in Iran.
“At midnight, Friday into Saturday, a large B-2 strike package, comprised of bombers, launched from the continental United States. As part of a plan to maintain tactical surprise, part of the package proceeded to the west and into the Pacific as a decoy,” he stated.
“Throughout its 18-hour flight, the aircraft completed multiple in-flight refuellings. Once over land, the B-2s linked up with escort and support aircraft once over land in the Middle East in a complex, tightly timed manoeuvre requiring exact synchronisation across multiple platforms in a narrow piece of airspace.” Caine explained, adding that this was done with minimal communication.
Speaking while displaying a map tracing the flight path and timelines of the US bombers, the chairman said: “At about 5pm Eastern Time (ET) [on] Saturday, just before the aircraft entered Iranian airspace, a US submarine in the Central Command (Centcom) area of responsibility launched more than two dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles against key surface infrastructure targets at Isfahan.
“As the Operation Midnight Hammer strike package entered Iranian airspace, the US deployed several deception tactics, including decoys, as fourth and fifth-generation aircraft pushed out in front of the strike package at high altitude and high speed, sweeping for enemy fighters and surface-to-air missile threats.”
A graphic released by the Pentagon shows the flight path and timeline of Operation Midnight Hammer, the US operation to strike nuclear sites in Iran on June 21. — Defence Department via CBS
Gen Caine outlined that US Strategic Command, Transportation Command, Cyber Command, Space Command and the Space Force and US European Command all provided support during the strikes.
“We are currently unaware of any shots fired at the U.S. strike package on the way in,” he said.
Outlining the bombing raid, Gen Caine said that at about 6:40pm ET (2:10am in Iran) the lead B-2 “dropped two GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) weapons on the first of several aimpoints at Fordow”.
“As the president stated last night, the remaining bombers then hit their targets as well, with a total of 14 MOPs dropped against two nuclear target areas. All three Iranian nuclear infrastructure targets were struck between 6:40pm and 7:05pm ET … with the Tomahawk missiles being the last to strike at Isfahan to ensure that we retained the element of surprise throughout the operation.
“Following weapons release, the Midnight Hammer strike package exited Iranian airspace and began its return home. We are unaware of any shots fired at the package on the way out,” he added. “Iran’s fighters did not fly, and it appears Iran’s surface-to-air missile systems did not see us.”
According to Gen Caine, the US employed 75 “precision-guided weapons” during Operation Midnight Hammer, including the MOPs, marking their first operational use by the US military.
“More than 125 US aircraft participated in this mission, including B-2 stealth bombers, multiple flights of fourth and fifth-generation fighters, dozens and dozens of air refuelling tankers … and a full array of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, as well as hundreds of maintenance and operational professionals,” Gen Caine said.
The chairman warned that the US is prepared for any retaliatory attack by Iran, stating that any such attack would be an “incredibly poor choice”.
“We will defend ourselves; the safety of our service members and civilians is the highest priority. Many assets are still airborne, and we have hundreds deployed.”
