Pentagon details Iran strikes

The US aerial strikes on Iran were an “incredible and overwhelming success” and “obliterated” the country’s “nuclear ambitions,” according to US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

The Pentagon chief made the remarks on Saturday evening during a large press conference alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine to detail the attack, codenamed “Operation Midnight Hammer.”

“The order we received from our commander-in-chief was focused, it was powerful, and it was clear,” Hegseth stated. “We devastated the Iranian nuclear program, but it’s worth noting the operation did not target Iranian troops or the Iranian people,” he added, claiming that “Iran’s nuclear ambitions have been obliterated.”

The operation involved more than 125 aircraft, including seven B-2 Spirit strategic stealth bombers, as well as assorted reconnaissance planes, refueling tankers and fighter jets, according to Caine. 

At midnight Friday into Saturday morning, a large B-2 strike package comprised of bombers launched from the continental United States. As part of a plan to maintain tactical surprise, part of the package proceeded to the west and into the Pacific as a decoy,” Caine stated.

The planes dropped a dozen 30,000-pound GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs on nuclear facilities in Fordow and Natanz, he said. The installation in Isfahan was hit by a cruise missile salvo fired by a submarine.

The operation “was planned and executed across multiple domains and theaters with coordination that reflects our ability to project power globally with speed and precision at the time and place of our nation’s choosing,” Caine said.

Hegseth warned Tehran against retaliation, stating that “both public and private messages being directly delivered to the Iranians” that it would be a “very bad idea.” 

“The United States will respond very strongly to any Iranian attack on US interests or allies in the region,” he stressed.

Shortly after the attack, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi condemned the strikes as a violation of international law and all relevant treaties. Tehran reserves “all options to defend its sovereignty, interests, and people,” the top diplomat warned.