The U.S. military operation in Iran, dubbed Operation Midnight Hammer, caused “extremely severe damage” to the three nuclear facilities targeted in Saturday’s attack, according to Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs.
At midnight Friday into Saturday morning, several U.S. B-2 bombers deployed from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, with some going east and others going west. The bombers that flew west were a decoy, Caine told reporters on Sunday morning alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
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The B-2 bombers that carried out the mission flew east and refueled in the air as they traveled to and from Iran. Prior to crossing into Iranian airspace, a U.S. submarine in the region launched more than two dozen Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles against key surface infrastructure targets.
More than 125 aircraft were involved in the mission, Caine said.
“All three Iranian nuclear infrastructure targets were struck between 6:40 p.m. and 7:05 p.m. Eastern time … about 2:10 in the morning local time in Iran,” Caine said, noting that the United States was unaware of any shots fired at the aircraft involved in the operations, both during their entry into the country and on their way out.
The bombers were carrying the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, or MOP, a 30,000-pound bomb designed to hit hardened underground structures, and they were used at Natanz and Fordow. The U.S. dropped 14 MOPs on Iran’s nuclear facilities, the first ever operational use of the weapon.
Israel does not possess the MOP, so it sought U.S. involvement to target these underground facilities, though it was prepared to target them with alternative methods.
While Caine said the mission resulted in “extremely severe damage,” he also said it’s “way too early” to assess if Iran still has nuclear capabilities.
Hegseth said it was a limited operation but that the military is prepared to conduct additional attacks if Iran retaliates against U.S. forces or interests in the region.
“This is most certainly not open-ended. It doesn’t mean it limits our ability to respond. We will respond if necessary,” he said. “The most powerful military in the world is postured and prepared to defend our people, but what the president gave us, as I said, was a focused, powerful, and clear mission on the destruction of Iranian nuclear capabilities.”
Iranian officials have threatened to retaliate against U.S. troops in the region, and the U.S. has elevated force protection measures at bases across the region, including in Iraq, Syria, and the Gulf.
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Hegseth also noted that the operation was not about regime change in Iran. Instead, President Donald Trump “authorized a precision operation to neutralize the threats to our national interest posed by the Iranian nuclear program.”
Trump said on Thursday that he would take up to two weeks to decide whether the U.S. should involve itself in the conflict but made the call long before that time frame closed.