Operation 'Midnight Hammer': Pete Hegseth says Iran's nuclear ambitions were 'obliterated'
Pentagon explains Operation "Midnight Hammer," with Pete Hegseth claiming it "obliterated" Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
On Sunday, June 22, some of the top U.S. officials held a press conference in the Pentagon to give a concise briefing of the United States attack on some of Iran's most important nuclear facilities, an operation now called Operation "Midnight Hammer."
Dan Caine, the U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was the one who revealed the name of the operation. As he stated in the press conference, the United States used "deception tactics against Iran as it moved toward the strike".
The U.S. employed 'deception tactics' on Operation Midnight Hammer
According to Caine, the operation involved over 125 aircraft and would not have been possible without a "decoy" tactic, which consisted of some B-2 stealth bombers heading west to the Pacific. The rest of them headed towards the real target with "minimal communications throughout the 18-hour flight.”
While the B-2s were aimed towards Fordo and Natanz, Isfahan was being attacked with over 2 dozen Tomahawks, which are guided missiles that can be launched from naval ships or submarines.
Operation Midnight Hammer is the largest B-2 operational strike in U.S. history and the second-largest B-2 mission ever flown.
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Pete Hegseth: Operation Midnight caused Iran's nuclear ambitions to be 'obliterated'
While Gen. Dan Caine remained cautious, using conservative language and refusing to reveal more than necessary, stating that "extremely severe damage" had been caused to Iran's nuclear facilities but that it was too early to assess the extent of the damage, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did not share the same reservations.
Hegseth stated that Iran’s nuclear ambitions have been “obliterated”; but it has not been possible to corroborate that affirmation.
“The battle damage assessment is ongoing, but our initial assessment … is that all of our precision munitions struck where we wanted them to strike and had the desired effect,” he said.
