The US strikes on Iran’s key nuclear facilities inflicted “extremely severe damage and destruction”, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Dan Caine said, adding that Washington had used decoy planes to surprise Tehran.
In a briefing with defence secretary Pete Hegseth on Sunday, Caine said the US had employed “several deception tactics” including moving some B-2 bombers to the Pacific Ocean to misdirect Iran before launching the strikes from different aircraft.
Hegseth added that “all of our precision munitions struck where we wanted them to strike and had the desired effect” in targeting the nuclear sites of Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan.
He said that at the underground site at Fordow, which was Washington’s “primary target”, “we believe we achieved destruction of capabilities”.
Operation Midnight Hammer, as the assault was dubbed, marked the first use of the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) “bunker-buster” bombs in conflict.
Seven B-2 bombers carried out the strikes, dropping a total of 14 MOPs on Fordow and Natanz, Caine said. Isfahan was hit with more than two dozen Tomahawk missiles fired from a US submarine.
Caine added that the US planes, which flew for 37 hours, appeared to have gone undetected by Iran’s air defences.
The strikes deepen the conflict in the Middle East, which has been in turmoil since Hamas’s attack on Israel in 2023. They come just over a week after Israel launched missiles at Iran and Tehran hit back by striking targets in Israel.
Hegseth said the attacks “took months and weeks of positioning and preparation” to be ready when Trump gave the order. The US president said last week that he would make a decision regarding a strike on Iran within a fortnight.
Hegseth added that US “does not seek war”, but said: “Let me be clear, we will act swiftly and decisively when our people, our partners or our interests are threatened.”
When asked if the US was prepared for a protracted war, Hegseth acknowledged that “anything can happen in conflict” but said that the US intended to signal to Iran that the strikes had been a focused attack.
“The scope of this was intentionally limited. That’s the message that we’re sending,” Hegseth said. “So Iran, in that sense, has a choice.”
Caine said US forces in the Middle East were on high alert for any Iranian retaliation or proxy attacks. “We will defend ourselves,” he said.