(NewsNation) — The country’s top general on Thursday shared a detailed narrative of U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites last weekend, an operation Pentagon officials repeatedly said went as planned.
Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, laid out the preparation and execution of the attacks now known as “Operation Midnight Hammer.”
The news briefing, which was scheduled so Hegseth could discuss a leaked intelligence report on the efficacy of the attacks against Iran’s nuclear program, yielded multiple new details about the lead-up to the attacks — but stopped short of sharing results.
Planners prepared a ‘flex weapon’ in Iranian strikes
Of the six so-called “bunker-buster” weapons used, one blasted the cap off the site’s vent.
Four more entered at the main shaft, moved down into the main complex and exploded in the main weapons space, according to Caine.
A sixth weapon was “designed as a flex weapon to allow us to cover if one of the preceding jets or one of the preceding weapons did not work.” Per Caine and Hegseth, all six weapons functioned as expected.
Attacking the vents made it look as though there were three strike points in the attack, which may be misleading.
“These are the types of things that go into the planning for a strike that the Pentagon would not expect the press corps or the American people to initially understand,” Caine said. “So, laying this information out is helpful, but it’s also why we ask for a beat, for a moment, for a day or two, the opportunity to tell that story.”
Who were B-2 bombers in US strikes on Iran?
The B-2 pilots deployed in “Operation Midnight Hammer” were from the active-duty Air Force and the Missouri Air National Guard, Caine said, and included both men and women.
A majority of the crews graduated from the Air Force weapons school, with headquarters at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada.
“When the crews went to work on Friday, they kissed their loved ones goodbye, not knowing when or if they’d be home,” Caine said. “Late on Saturday night, their families became aware of what was happening.”
The pilots returned to Whiteman Air Force Base in Johnson County, Missouri, on Sunday.
“Their families were there, flags flying and tears flowing. I have chills, literally, talking about this,” Caine added.
Bombs used in Iran strikes took 15 years to make
The weapon used to attack Iran, the GBU-57 M***ive Ordnance Penetrator Successor, was more than a decade in the making, according to Caine.
He described a 15-year study by two Defense Threat Reduction Agency officers tasked with creating a bomb that could penetrate Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility, located deep underground.
After years of work, Caine said the phone finally rang and “the president of the United States ordered the B-2 force that you’ve supported to go strike and kill this target.”
Timeline of Iranian attack on Al Udeid US base
The U.S. received “indications and warnings” that Iran was planning retaliatory attacks on American bases in the Middle East on Monday morning, Caine said.
Al Udeid Air Base, the nation’s largest military installation in the Middle East, ***umed a “minimum force posture” — essentially, making moves to exert the least effort and reduce harm.
“Most folks had moved off the base to extend the security perimeter out away from what we ***essed might be a target zone, except for a very few Army soldiers,” Caine said.
Soon, 44 soldiers and two patriot batteries — deployed from Korea and Japan, and aided by Qatari forces — remained at the base.
At 7:30 p.m. in Qatar, targets were detected. Patriot missiles began ejecting from canisters and launching, a force “you can feel in your body,” according to Caine.
“These awesome humans, along with their Qatari brothers and sisters in arms, stood between a salvo of Iranian missiles and the safety of Al Udeid,” Caine said.
Qatar’s foreign ministry on Monday said no one was injured in the attack.
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