U.S. bombing of Iran began with fake-out

As Operation “Midnight Hammer” acquired underway on Saturday (June 21 2025), a gaggle of B-2 bombers took off from their base in Missouri and have been seen heading out towards the Pacific island of Guam, in what consultants noticed as attainable pre-positioning for any U.S. resolution to strike Iran.

However they have been a decoy. The actual group of seven bat-winged B-2 stealth bombers flew east undetected for 18 hours, preserving communications to a minimal and refuelling in mid-air, the U.S. navy revealed on Sunday (June 22, 2025).

This chart was displayed throughout a information convention by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Workers Gen. Dan Caine on the Pentagon in Washington on June 22, 2025.
| Photograph Credit score:
Division of Protection by way of AP

Because the bombers neared Iranian airspace, a U.S. submarine launched greater than two dozen Tomahawk land assault cruise missiles. U.S. fighter jets flew as decoys in entrance of the bombers to comb for any Iranian fighter jets and missiles.

The assault on Iran’s three most important nuclear websites was the most important operational strike ever by B-2 stealth bombers and the second-longest B-2 operation ever flown, surpassed solely by these following the September 11, 2001, assaults on the USA by al Qaeda.

The B-2 bombers dropped 14 bunker-busting GBU-57 Large Ordnance Penetrators, every weighing 30,000 kilos. The operation concerned over 125 U.S. navy plane, in response to the Pentagon.

From the U.S. navy’s perspective, the operation was a powerful tactical success. The Iranians have been unable to get off a single spherical on the American plane and have been caught utterly flat-footed, Common Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Workers, informed reporters on the Pentagon on Sunday (June 22, 2025).

“Iran’s fighters didn’t fly, and it seems that Iran’s surface-to-air missile methods didn’t see us all through the mission,” Mr. Caine stated. “We retained the aspect of shock.”

Mr. Caine stated preliminary battle injury assessments indicated that each one three websites focused sustained extraordinarily extreme injury and destruction, however he declined to take a position whether or not any Iranian nuclear capabilities may nonetheless be intact.

U.S. Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth was extra assured.

“It was clear we devastated the Iranian nuclear program,” he stated, standing alongside Mr. Caine within the Pentagon briefing room.

Midnight Hammer was extremely categorised, Mr. Caine stated, “with only a few folks in Washington understanding the timing or nature of the plan.” Many senior officers in the USA solely learnt of it on Saturday (June 21, 2025) evening from President Donald Trump’s first put up on social media.

Mr. Hegseth stated it took months of preparations to make sure the U.S. navy can be prepared if Mr. Trump ordered the strikes. Mr. Caine stated the mission itself, nonetheless, got here collectively in only a matter of weeks. What occurs subsequent is unclear.

Gulf states, house to a number of U.S. navy bases, have been on excessive alert on Sunday (June 22, 2025) as they weighed the dangers of a widening battle within the area.

Guarding towards blowback, the U.S. navy additionally dispersed U.S. navy belongings within the Center East and heightened pressure safety for U.S. troops.

Mr. Hegseth stated the U.S. navy was positioned to defend itself within the Center East but additionally to reply towards Iran if it goes by way of with longstanding threats to retaliate.

The Trump administration stated it’s not searching for a wider battle with Iran, with Mr. Hegseth saying personal messages had been despatched to Tehran encouraging them to barter.

However Mr. Trump has additionally warned Iran that the U.S. is ready to hit extra targets if wanted, utilizing far higher pressure.

“Iran can be good to heed these phrases. He stated it earlier than, and he means it,” Mr. Hegseth stated.