The Pentagon provided details regarding a recent military operation in which stealth bombers conducted strikes on three nuclear sites in Iran. The B-2 bombers, which were utilized in the U.S. attacks, departed from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri for a covert mission spanning over 7,000 miles, requiring multiple midair refuelings over an 18-hour period.
On Sunday morning, officials revealed the operation, named Operation Midnight Hammer, along with a timeline of events. The mission commenced at 12:01 a.m. Eastern time on Saturday, when the B-2 bombers took off. One or more bombers flew west over the Pacific Ocean as a decoy, while seven bombers proceeded east toward Iran.
By 5 p.m. Eastern, after 17 hours of flight, the B-2s entered airspace under U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the Middle East. They were joined by fighter aircraft for the final approach into Iran. Concurrently, a U.S. Navy submarine launched over a dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles targeting a nuclear site in Isfahan.
The U.S. warplanes entered Iranian airspace approximately one hour later. Between 6:40 p.m. and 7:05 p.m. Eastern time, the strikes were executed on the nuclear sites at Fordo and Natanz, followed by the submarine-launched missiles hitting Isfahan. A total of approximately 75 precision-guided munitions were used, including 14 GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs, marking their first combat deployment.
At 7:30 p.m. Eastern, the American bombers exited Iranian airspace and began their return journey to the United States. Shortly thereafter, at 7:50 p.m. Eastern, President Trump announced via social media that U.S. forces had successfully attacked the sites and had left Iranian airspace.
In a subsequent address from the White House at 10 p.m. Eastern, President Trump stated that the U.S. military had “totally obliterated” the three nuclear sites. During his address, the White House shared images of the president and his staff in the Situation Room during the operation.
On Sunday at 8 a.m. Eastern, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, briefed reporters at the Pentagon, indicating that a final assessment of the battle damage was still pending.