Pentagon Claims Bull's Eye with ‘Operation Midnight Hammer’

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Massive US Airstrike Leaves Craters at Iran’s Fordow Nuclear Site

By TRH News Desk

NEW DELHI, June 23, 2025 — Pentagon in a briefing showed satellite imagery to claim severe damage to Iran’s heavily fortified Fordow nuclear facility. Massive US airstrike marked the largest B-2 bomber operation in American history, said the Pentagon briefing.

High-resolution images from Maxar Technologies show at least six massive craters carved into the mountain ridge above the Fordow complex — a covert facility deeply embedded in Iran’s mountainous terrain. The discoloration of the surrounding mountainside suggests intense explosive impact, likely caused by the use of bunker-busting bombs.

At a Pentagon briefing, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine officially confirmed the air assault, codenamed “Operation Midnight Hammer”, targeting three of Iran’s top nuclear facilities: Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. “This was a decisive strike,” Caine stated, adding that the operation deployed seven B-2 stealth bombers, backed by a formidable coalition of over 125 US aircraft and a guided-missile submarine.

The strike package included a sophisticated mix of decoy and deception tactics to evade Iranian defences. In total, US forces launched more than 75 precision-guided munitions, including:

14 GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOPs) — the Pentagon’s most powerful bunker-busting bombs,
Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAMs) launched from naval platforms, and
AGM-88 HARM missiles designed to neutralize Iranian air defences.

Preliminary assessments indicate that all three nuclear sites sustained severe structural damage, dealing a significant blow to Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, added Pentagon. Fordow, previously considered near-impenetrable due to its location deep beneath a mountain, appears to have been heavily compromised, added Pentagon.

According to defence analyst Ian Ellis, US Central Command (CENTCOM) and European Command (EUCOM) deployed an armada of over 30 naval vessels, including two aircraft carrier strike groups, 13 destroyers, mine countermeasure ships, four submarines, and the 6th Fleet’s amphibious command ship, USS Mount Whitney.

The operation dramatically escalated tensions in the region. Iran has not yet officially disclosed the extent of damage, but state media accused the US of violating international law and warned of potential retaliation.

While the White House defended the strikes as a preventive measure to halt Iran’s nuclear ambitions, global powers are bracing for the fallout. Analysts warn that Tehran’s response—possibly including retaliatory attacks, asymmetric warfare, or withdrawal from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)—could push the crisis into a dangerous new phase.

Following the attack, US President Dondald Trump in a series of posts on X echoed rhetoric of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, including the “regime change in Iran.” Iranian parliament approved the closure of Strait of Hormuz, a global supply chokepoint of energy resources. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called upon China to prevail on Iran against the closure of Strait of Hormuz.

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