Operation Midnight Hammer: US Details How it Struck Iran’s Nuclear Sites in 25 Minutes

By Reporter

President Donald Trump’s administration has disclosed that the US’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear site on Saturday were codenamed Operation Midnight Hammer.

Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, briefed journalists a while ago. The general disclosed that: “No shots fired’ at US bombers.”

Speaking, Dan Caine said that the US is “unaware” of any shots being fired at US bombers on the way in and way out of Iran.

“Iran’s fighters did not fly and it appears that Iran’s surface to air missile systems did not see us. Throughout the mission we retained the element of surprise,” he added.

The US forces “employed approximately 75 precision guided weapons during this operation” and more than 125 aircraft, he said.

In the wake of the attack, he said: “Our forces remain on high alert and are fully postured to respond to any Iranian retaliation or proxy attack, which would be an incredibly poor choice.

The general gave vivid description of the attack: “B-2 bombers left the US on midnight, with part of the group heading “to the west and into the Pacific as a decoy”, Dan Caine told the briefing.

“Meanwhile, seven B-2 bombers proceeded quietly to the East with minimal communications”, he continued.

“Once over the land the B-2s linked up with escort and support aircraft in a complex tightly timed manoeuvre… all done with minimal communications,” Gen Caine continued.

“At around 5pm EST, a US submarine launched more than two dozen Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles at Isfahan, a nuclear site, he said.

“The US employed several deception tactics including decoys as the fourth and fifth generation aircraft pushed 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,” he said.

Dan Caine added that initial assessments indicate that all three sites targeted – Isfahan, Natanz and Fordow — sustained “extreme damage and destruction.

“No other military in the world could have done this,” the general added.

Caine said the US had executed a “deliberate and precise strike against three Iranian nuclear facilities” in Operation Midnight Hammer.

“This was a complex and high risk mission carried out with exceptional skill and discipline by our joint force,” he said. “This operation was designed to severely degrade Iran’s nuclear weapons infrastructure. It was planned and executed across multiple domains and theatres… with speed and precision at the time and place of our nation’s choosing.”

Gen Caine said “very few people in Washington” knew “the timing or nature of this plan.”

The US does not seek war, Donald Trump “seeks peace and Iran should take that”, Pete Hegseth said.

He praised US Central Command, “who did a phenomenal job”, thanking “every American involved in this operation” who “performed flawlessly” along with the US’ allies in the Middle East.

“This was a plan that took months and weeks of positioning and preparation so that we could be ready when the president of the United States called,” Mr Hegseth said. “It took a great deal of precision. It involved misdirection,” he added.

B-2 bombers “were in and out and back without the world knowing at all. This was a bold and beautiful attack,” Hegseth said.

He said the mission was to “destroy or severely degrade Iran’s nuclear programme” and called it “an incredible and overwhelming success.

“We devastated the Iranian nuclear programme. It’s worth noting the operation did not target the Iranian troops or the Iranian people,” he continued.

“Iran’s nuclear ambitions have been obliterated. Many presidents have dreamed of delivering the final blow to Iran’s nuclear programme. And none could – until President Trump.”

He declared: “American deterrence is back.”

However, Iran president has warned, while condemning Trump’s decision to attack his country was ‘US aggression’. He added that, the strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites, revealed Washington was “behind” Israel’s military campaign in the Islamic republic.

In his first statements since the attack, he said: “This aggression showed that America is the main factor behind the Zionist regime’s hostile actions against the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he said, adding that the US acted after seeing Israel’s “obvious inability”