5 days ago
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(NewsNation) — As Operation "Midnight Hammer" got underway connected Saturday, a radical of B-2 bombers took disconnected from their basal successful Missouri and were noticed heading retired toward the Pacific land of Guam, successful what experts saw arsenic imaginable pre-positioning for immoderate U.S. determination to onslaught Iran.
But they were decoys.
Saturday night, President Donald Trump announced that 3 Iranian atomic facilities were destroyed by bunker-busting bombers and connected Sunday morning, Pentagon officials provided a elaborate breakdown of the operation.
See the timeline below:
Decoys deployed astatine midnight
The B-2 bombers headed to Guam were decoys, according to Joint Chiefs of Staff president Gen. Dan Caine.
The existent radical of 7 bat-winged, B-2 stealth bombers flew eastbound undetected for 18 hours, keeping communications to a minimum, refueling successful mid-air, the U.S. subject revealed connected Sunday.
A Pentagon-provided representation of the formation way taken by B-2 stealth bombers indicates that their attack to Iran took them implicit the Mediterranean and past implicit Israel, Jordan and Iraq.
ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA - JUNE 22: An operational timeline of a onslaught connected Iran is displayed pursuing a quality league with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Dan Caine and U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth astatine the Pentagon connected June 22, 2025 successful Arlington, Virginia. U.S. President Donald Trump gave an code to the federation past nighttime aft 3 Iranian atomic facilities were struck by the U.S. military. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)Bombers participate Iranian airspace
At astir 5 p.m. ET Saturday, the bombers neared Iranian airspace and a U.S. submarine launched much than 2 twelve Tomahawk onshore onslaught cruise missiles. U.S. combatant jets flew arsenic decoys successful beforehand of the bombers to expanse for immoderate Iranian combatant jets and missiles.
The B-2 bombers dropped 14 bunker-busting bombs, each weighing 30,000 pounds. The cognition progressive implicit 125 U.S. subject aircraft, according to the Pentagon.
Iranian atomic sites 'completely and afloat obliterated'
At astir 10 p.m. ET Saturday, President Donald Trump made a televised code from the White House announcing that the operation of strikes “completely and afloat obliterated” 3 Iranian atomic sites. However, U.S. defence officials said an appraisal of the harm wrought by the onslaught inactive was ongoing.
