Operation Midnight Hammer: A timeline of how the US 'obliterated' three nuclear sites in Iran
US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine on Sunday (IST) offered a timeline of America's strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, an operation titled 'Midnight Hammer'.
Three nuclear enrichment sites in Iran—Fordow, Isfahan, and Natanz—have been struck by more than 125 aircraft, which included seven B-2 stealth bombers that dropped fourteen 13.6-tonne GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) payloads, General Caine explained, as per a CNN report.
ALSO READ | Operation Midnight Hammer: Gen Dan Caine says Tomahawk missiles from submarines struck Isfahan while B2 bombers targeted Fordow
US President Donald Trump has claimed that the strikes had “completely and fully obliterated” Iran's nuclear facilities, with Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth urging Iran to now choose between 'peace or tragedy'.
21/06/2025 - 12:00 AM ET (9:30 AM IST)
The operation truly began in the hours around Saturday midnight (US time), he had said at the Pentagon press conference.
The six B-2 bombers that had headed west to an American airbase in Guam, a US-territory in Micronesia, were a diversion tactic to allow for the rest of the bombers to be utilised in the attack on Iran.
ALSO READ | Operation Midnight Hammer: Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth urges Iran to choose 'peace or tragedy'
These other bombers “proceeded quietly to the east with minimal communications throughout the 18-hour flight”, he explained.
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth has said that the US had used other methods of deception as well, such as deploying fighters to protect the B-2 bombers that dropped 14 bunker-buster bombs on Iran’s most powerful nuclear sites, according to an Associated Press report.
21/06/2025 - Approximately 5:00 PM ET (22/06/2025 - 2:30 AM IST)
Caine explained that a US submarine in the vicinity of Iran had “launched more than two dozen Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles against key surface infrastructure targets” at the Isfahan nuclear site, the CNN report added.
Opening with this, the US employed more deception tactics to enable numerous fourth- and fifth-generation aircraft to push out in front of the “strike package at high altitude and high speed, sweeping in front of the package for enemy fighters and surface-to-air missile threats”.
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He added that for the Natanz and Fordow facilities, the US had additionally utilised “high-speed suppression weapons” with fighter aircraft to “ensure safe passage” of the B-2 bombers that were to deploy the MOPs.
21/06/2025 - Approximately 6:40 PM ET (22/06/2025 - 4:10 AM IST)
The B-2 bombers quickly advanced to Fordow and Natanz, where two massive bunker-buster bombs were dropped on Fordow, while the remainder “then hit their targets”.
ALSO READ | Image shows entry points of 30,000-pound American 'bunker-buster' bombs at Fordow nuclear facility
The additional targets were struck “between 6:40 AM ET (22/06/2025 – 4:10 AM IST) and 7:05 AM ET (22/06/2025 – 4:35 AM).
The US military then “began its return home” Caine said,as per the CNN report, noting that no shots were fired by Iran at the US on the way in or out.
21/06/2025 – 7:50 PM ET (22/06/2025 – 5:20 AM IST)
US President Donald Trump announces the bombing in a post on Truth Social, where he mentions that the aircraft were all safely out of Iranian airspace and headed home.
“Final battle damage will take some time, but initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction,” General Caine has said, in the Pentagon press conference.
Middle East