US strike inflicts “severe damage and destruction” on 3 Iranian nuclear facilities, CJCS Caine states

Three Iranian nuclear facilities that were struck by the US military last night have “sustained extremely severe damage and destruction,” according to preliminary US intelligence estimates, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine stated in a press briefing earlier today.

The Trump administration ordered the strikes against the Iranian nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan after negotiations with Iran broke down, and Israel launched its wide-ranging strikes against Iran’s nuclear program, military sites, and top Iranian nuclear scientists and military commanders on June 12. The US military is believed to be the only nation with the ability to effectively hit the hardened and buried site at Fordow. 

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth joined Caine to brief the details of “Operation Midnight Hammer,” which Caine characterized as “a deliberate and precise strike against three Iranian nuclear facilities.” The attack, which was planned and practiced in near secrecy for several weeks, was “designed to severely degrade Iran’s nuclear weapons infrastructure,” Caine stated.

One hundred and twenty-five aircraft, including B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, “fourth and fifth generation fighters,” “dozens” of aerial refuelers, and other aircraft were involved in the strike. The B-2s were launched from the United States. The US Air Force sent several of the aircraft west towards Guam as a decoy while the main force of B-2s used in the strike traveled east and met up with refuelers deployed to Europe days ago.

Just before the B-2 strike package entered Iran, “a US submarine in the Central Command area of responsibility launched more than two dozen Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles against key surface infrastructure targets at Esfahan,” Cain stated.  

The nuclear facilities at Fordow and Natanz, which include facilities buried deep underground, were targets of the B-2 strike package. Iran did not fire surface-to-air missiles, nor did Iranian interceptors sortie against the US warplanes. The Israeli Air Force has severely degraded Iran’s surface-to-air missiles and air force assets and established air dominance over Iran since its operation began on June 12.

Seventy-five precision-guided munitions, including 14 GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOPs), were used in the US operation, Caine stated. The MOPs are 30,000-pound, “bunker-busting munitions” that can only be dropped from B-2s and were needed to strike the deep underground facility of Fordow, which is built inside a mountain.

Caine stated that the final results of the strike “will take some time” to gather. However, the “initial bomb damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction,” he said. This assessment is somewhat at odds with President Trump’s more definitive statement last night, in which he claimed that “Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.”

Caine issued a warning to Iran and discouraged the regime from using its network of militia proxies to strike US interests across the region. Iran would make an “incredibly poor choice” to deploy its proxies, Caine stated. “We will defend ourselves.”

Bill Roggio is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Editor of FDD’s Long War Journal.