“Midnight Hammer”: Even the name of the operation suggests power and surprise under the cover of darkness. Before the effects could even be measured, US authorities offered extensive commentary on the airstrikes carried out on Saturday, June 21, against three Iranian nuclear program sites at Natanz, Isfahan and Fordo. After Donald Trump’s solemn address, in which he hailed “a spectacular military success,” the Pentagon provided operational details the following day. The American show of force was praised, without consideration for its many gray areas, the uncertainty over Iran’s response and the geopolitical significance of this unilateral action.
General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, described a complex operation involving decoys, with “very few people” in Washington aware of the details. While one group of B-2 bombers headed toward the Pacific as a diversion, seven identical aircraft took off from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, en route to the Middle East. Communications were kept to a minimum, and in-flight refueling was conducted during the 18-hour journey. Shortly before the B-2s entered Iranian airspace, a US submarine fired around 20 Tomahawk cruise missiles at “key infrastructure” to clear the way. One key point: Iranian forces allegedly never managed to fire on the American planes. At about 2 am local time, each of the seven B-2s dropped two GBU-57 bunker-buster bombs, with 12 of them targeting the Fordo site exclusively.
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