The B-2 bomber pilots who carried out strikes on Iran’s nuclear services have returned to the U.S., President Trump confirmed on Sunday.
CBS Information crews captured video of a number of B-2 Spirit Bombers flying again to the Whiteman Air Pressure Base in Missouri on Sunday afternoon. Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Workers, mentioned earlier within the day that seven of the plane flew east from the bottom to Iran to bomb three nuclear sites at Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan. The mission, dubbed “Operation Midnight Hammer,” was the “largest B-2 operational strike in U.S. historical past,” Caine mentioned.
“Thanks for a job properly performed!!!,” Mr. Trump wrote Sunday in a Truth Social post confirming the pilots’ return. He additionally mentioned Sunday that the harm to Iran’s nuclear websites was “monumental.”
“The hits had been laborious and correct. Nice ability was proven by our army,” he mentioned in one other put up.
Ian Lee/CBS Information
At a Pentagon briefing Sunday, Caine mentioned that every of the B-2 bombers carried two GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators, or MOPs. Over 25 minutes, a complete of 14 MOPs had been dropped on two goal areas at Fordo and Natanz, whereas Tomahawk missiles from a U.S. submarine focused the Isfahan website, he mentioned.
One other group of B-2s flew west over the Pacific to behave as decoys, Caine mentioned.
“Greater than 125 U.S. plane participated on this mission,” Caine mentioned, together with the B-2 bombers, fighter jets, refueling planes and surveillance plane. Greater than 75 precision-guided weapons had been used within the assault, he famous.
The next day, satellite images present a number of massive diameter holes or craters on the highest of the ridge over the underground advanced at Fordo. At Natanz and Isfahan, pictures from Maxar Applied sciences present in depth constructing harm throughout the services, together with a gasoline enrichment plant.
Stefan Becket and
contributed to this report.
