On 21st June 2025, US President Donald Trump made a national address where he confirmed that the ‘three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime’ had been destroyed.
Trump called the strikes a ‘spectacular military success’, and added that Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities ‘have been completely and totally obliterated.’
The three sites, Fordo, Netanz, and Isfahan housed key nuclear enrichment facilities that were struck by US B-2 stealth bombers after an 18-hour flight from Whiteman Air Base, on an operation called Midnight Hammer.
According to the Rapid Response arm for the Department of Defence, part of the package of planes used to ‘maintain tactical surprise’ proceeded to the west and into the Pacific to act as a decoy.
The main strike package comprised of seven B-2 Spirit air bombers which proceeded to the east with minimal communications. Once over land, the B-2s joined escort and support aircraft.
‘As the strike package approached Fordo and Natanz’, General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the US Department of Defence said, ‘the US protection package employed high speed suppression weapons to ensure safe passage of the strike package. With fighter assets employing preemptive suppressing fires against any potential Iranian surface to air threats.’
‘At 2.10am Iran time, the lead B-2 dropped two GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) weapons on the first of several aim points at Fordo’, He continued.
The remaining bombers hit their targets ‘with a total of 14 MOPs dropped against two nuclear target areas’, he added, and confirmed that ‘all three nuclear infrastructure targets were struck between 6.40pm and 7.05pm EST.’
Additionally, prior to the strike package, Chairman Caine said that 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 Isfahan.’
The Tomahawk missiles were the last to strike at Isfahan to ‘ensure [the US] retained the element of surprise throughout the operation’, he said.
After the weapons release, the Midnight Hammer operation exited Iranian airspace.
Trump, in his national address called Iran ‘the bully of the Middle East’ and said that it ‘must now make peace.’
He warned that if the country does not, ‘future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier.’
He then thanked Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, saying that the US and Israel had worked as a team, ‘like perhaps no team has ever worked before.’
He added that ‘this cannot continue. There will be either peace, or there will be tragedy for Iran, far greater than what we have witnessed over the last eight days.’
Equinox News 
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