Fox News reports: The mission began with deception. Under the cover of darkness, shortly after midnight, Operation Midnight Hammer launched early Saturday morning. Nine B-2 stealth bombers took off from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, but two acted as decoys, flying west over the Pacific for all to see and a scheduled refueling in the skies near Hawaii with a follow-on flight to Guam. But seven B-2s did not fly west; they quietly peeled away and secretly flew east with minimal communication. Their destination: Iran’s underground nuclear facilities.
First into Iran were American fighter jets to also serve as decoys and draw fire from the Iranians. The B-2s then entered Iranian airspace at 6 p.m. Eastern, just after 2 a.m. local. Forty minutes later, 14 massive bunker-busting bombs were released by the B-2s—12 hit the underground nuclear site in Fordo, two hit Natanz. At the same time, those 15-ton bombs from the B-2s hit their targets, 30 Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from a guided missile submarine slammed into Isfahan, with its centrifuges buried even deeper than Fordo.
The strike package then bugged out of Iranian airspace and returned to their base in Missouri this afternoon to complete their 37-hour round trip mission. The B-2s were refueled at least three times in midair each way. Over 125 aircraft were involved in the strike.
President Trump provided the initial battle damage assessment last night: “Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.”
His top military advisor said this the morning after: “Initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the mission against Iran is not open-ended and is not about regime change.
Fox News reports: The mission began with deception.
