Shortly after midnight on Saturday, a large “strike package” of American B-2 Spirit stealth bombers set off from the Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, under a mission codenamed Operation Midnight Hammer.
The task for many of the pilots was to fly some 7,000 miles, into Iranian airspace undetected and destroy Tehran’s nuclear programme. Their mission was like no other that had gone before.
“The scope and scale of what occurred last night would take the breath away of almost any American if you had an opportunity to watch it in real time,” said Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, describing the operation as “bold and brilliant” in a press conference at the Pentagon on Sunday.
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It would be the longest journey by the B-2s since 2001 in the days after 9/11 and the first ever operational use of a huge “bunker-buster” bomb, the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP).
More than 145 US aircraft, including 4th and 5th generation fighters, air-to-air refuelling tankers, spy planes and a guided-missile submarine were involved in what unfolded.
Seventy-five precision-guided weapons were fired, including 24 Tomahawk missiles and 14 MOPs. Not a single shot was fired in response.
Hegseth said the mission — which took weeks of planning — was “an incredible and overwhelming success”. “We devastated the Iranian nuclear programme. Iran’s nuclear ambitions have been obliterated,” he added.
This is how the attack unfolded.
Deception operation
As the bombers left the continental United States early on Saturday morning, the details of the highly classified mission were known only by “very few” in Washington, said Dan “Razin” Caine, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff.
President Trump was determined Iran would not know what was coming. On his mind would have been Signalgate, an embarrassing security breach when high-ranking US officials, including Hegseth, used the encrypted messaging app Signal to discuss classified information, specifically plans for a military strike in Yemen.
Only two days previously, Trump had said he would give Iran up to two weeks to enter into substantial negotiations before striking. The UK, America’s closest ally, was informed only “shortly” before the US attack took place.
“As part of a plan to maintain tactical surprise, part of the package proceeded to the West and into the Pacific, as a decoy. A deception effort known only to an extremely small number of planners and key leaders here in Washington,” Caine told the press conference.
The main strike package comprised seven B-2 bombers, each with two crew members. They proceeded quietly to the east, instead, taking care to conduct only minimal communications.
Plane watchers believed the aircraft were heading to Guam, the US island territory in the Pacific Ocean — none appeared to predict some would go all the way to Iran without stopping.
Throughout the 18-hour flight, the aircraft were refuelled mid-air “multiple” times. Once overland, the B-2s linked up with escort and support aircraft in what military chiefs described as a “complex, tightly timed manoeuvre, requiring exact synchronisation across multiple platforms in a narrow piece of airspace”. Hardly any communication was permitted in case the Iranians picked up on any chatter. That didn’t stop social media speculation, however, and while many used flight trackers to point out that B-2s appeared to be flying West to Diego Garcia, one man, David Shayani, a resident of Warsaw, Missouri, posted on X that he had just seen nine B-2 bombers fly over his house headed east, a few miles from the Whiteman Air Force Base where the fleet of bombers is stationed.
Aircraft close in on Iranian targets
Shortly before the “strike package” entered Iranian airspace, a US submarine launched more than two dozen BGM-109 Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles against key surface infrastructure targets at Isfahan, the location of a significant research base and uranium conversion facility in central Iran.
Then, as the aircraft entered Iranian airspace, the US deployed several deception tactics, including decoys. These can come in the form of chaffs or flares. The 4th and 5th generation aircraft, presumably F/A-18s, F-22s and F-35s, pushed out in front of the bombers at high altitude and high speed, sweeping in front of the bombers to defend against any enemy fighters and surface-to-air missile threats.
In the event, there weren’t any, as in the days preceding the operation, Israel had been able to gain control of the skies by destroying Iran’s air defence systems.
“Iran’s fighters did not fly, and it appears that Iran’s surface-to-air missile systems did not see us throughout the mission,” Caine told reporters.
The US cyber command and US space force were also involved in the operation, possibly through the use of cyber attacks to confuse Iran command and control, and satellites to pinpoint locations.
As the bombers approached the Fordow enrichment facility, a factory and Iran’s most heavily fortified nuclear site, built inside a mountain on the edge of Iran’s Great Salt Desert, as well as the Natanz complex, Iran’s primary uranium enrichment facility, the US deployed high-speed “suppression weapons” to ensure the safe passage of the aircraft.
Fighter jets employed pre-emptive suppressing fires against any potential Iranian surface-to-air threats.
Suppressing fires would refer to a combination of jamming and the use of missiles to destroy Iranian radars and ground-based missiles, according to Matthew Savill, director of military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi).
“We are currently unaware of any shots fired at the US strike package on the way in,” said Caine.
The drop
At approximately 2.10am Iran time — in the small hours of the morning, when the enemy is considered to be at its weakest — the lead B-2 bomber dropped two 30,000lb class GBU-57/Bs, the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), on the first of several targets at Fordow in precision strikes. The remaining bombers then hit their targets, with a total of 14 MOPs dropped against two nuclear sites. Trump said a “full payload of bombs” had been dropped on Fordow.
At six metres long and weighing 13.6 tonnes, the “bunker buster” bomb is the most powerful non-nuclear bomb in the US arsenal, and has a thick steel outer casing that can penetrate fortifications up to 60 metres below ground.
It is designed to destroy targets buried so deep no other conventional weapon could reach them. Dropped from a B-2 stealth bomber flying at high altitude, it is thought to accelerate to a speed faster than sound, using sophisticated fins to home in on a preset target. Its pointed nose is designed to pierce hardened layers of rock, concrete and steel.
Although the bomb’s precise capabilities are classified, the initial impact is estimated to deliver as much as 900 megajoules of kinetic energy, roughly equivalent to a fully laden Boeing 747 slamming into a barrier at 170mph — the difference being that with the bomb, this energy is concentrated on a tiny area. Sheer kinetic force will take it through up to 60 metres of reinforced concrete or hard rock. Only then would its explosive charge, thought to weigh about 2.5 tonnes, detonate.
The blast is intended to collapse or cripple the target. Fordow is buried up to 100m beneath a mountain, shielded by concrete and steel.
All three Iranian nuclear sites were struck in just 25 minutes. Tomahawk missiles were the last to strike at Isfahan.
Then the aircraft left Iranian airspace and returned home, without coming under attack. Iran’s fighter aircraft did not get airborne and its surface to air missile systems appeared not to spot the US aircraft. “Throughout the mission, we maintained the element of surprise,” claimed Caine.
Battle damage assessment
The US is still trying to assess the damage. However, Trump said the attack had “completely and totally obliterated” the three sites. According to the Pentagon, all three sites sustained “extremely severe damage and destruction”. Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, was more cautious in his assessment, warning the BBC that the full details are yet to emerge. “But it’s quite clear to me that the Iranian nuclear programme has been hit substantially,” Herzog added.
The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said on Sunday morning that there had so far been no increase in radiation levels.
Some experts believe only troops on the ground would be able to fully assess the damage to the sites.
After the attack, US and British forces in the region were on high alert for retaliatory strikes. There are fears Trump’s actions could make the 40,000 American soldiers in the region a target.
The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and its strike group, with nine air squadrons and an escort force of destroyers, are in the region, joining the USS Carl Vinson strike carrier group. “If […] Iran then lashes out, that is where you need a blanket — that makes sure US and partner interests in the region are covered off by an enormous amount of firepower in the region,” a British military source said.
Although the UK did not participate in the strikes — nor was Diego Garcia, a joint UK-US base, needed as a staging post — many UK troops are deployed alongside US forces in the region.
Force protection measures in the region rose following the attack, according to UK defence sources, and are at their highest level as British forces brace for retaliatory strikes from Iran, it is understood. Force protection refers to alert levels, curfews and the type of equipment that has been forward-based in the Middle East, such as 14 Typhoons.
There are around 100 British troops currently in Iraq, serving alongside US forces and there are fears of revenge attacks by Iranian proxies.
Caine said US forces were “on high alert” and “fully postured to respond to any Iranian retaliation of proxy attacks” which he said would be an “incredibly poor choice”.
“This mission demonstrates the unmatched reach, co-ordination and capability of the United States military. In just a matter of weeks, this went from strategic planning to global execution. No other military in the world could have done this,” he added, speaking as the aircraft continued their journey home.
Leslie Vinjamuri, director of Chatham House’s US and Americas programme, said the risks of Trump’s strategy are “incalculably high”.
Dr Vinjamuri said: “If Iran attacks US assets and especially US personnel in the region, if the US is dragged further into direct conflict, if this launches a new era of terrorism, if this leads to more rather than less stability, then the cost to a president who has staked his success on staying out of war and delivering peace will be high.”
She added it is “essential now that US attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites be leveraged to drive further negotiation”.
