How US military power looms over the Israel-Iran conflict
If Trump decides to use U.S. forces against facilities like Fardow, he may opt to send the U.S. Air Force's B-2 Spirit stealth bomber.
The bomber's internal weapons bays are specifically designed to maintain stealth characteristics while accommodating large ordnance loads which could include two GBU-57A/B MOP (Massive Ordnance Penetrator), a 30,000-pound precision-guided 'bunker buster' bomb.
The MOP represents the largest conventional bomb in the U.S. arsenal, specifically engineered to defeat hardened underground bunkers. Its massive size provides unmatched bunker-penetration capability, while the weapon's 20.5-foot length and GPS-guided precision targeting system enable accurate strikes against specific underground facilities. Its penetration capability of over 60 metres (200 feet) through hardened concrete makes it effective against the world's most protected underground installations.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
North Wales Chronicle
6 minutes ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Israel and Iran trade fire as Europe's diplomatic effort yields no breakthrough
But the first face-to-face meeting between western and Iranian officials in the week-long war concluded after four hours with no sign of an immediate breakthrough. To give diplomacy a chance, Mr Trump said he would put off deciding for up to two weeks whether to join Israel's air campaign against Iran. US participation would most likely involve strikes against Iran's underground Fordo uranium enrichment facility, considered to be out of reach to all but America's 'bunker-buster' bombs. Whether or not the US joins, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel's military operation in Iran would continue 'for as long as it takes' to eliminate what he called the existential threat of a nuclear-armed Iran. Israel's top general echoed the warning, saying the Israeli military was ready 'for a prolonged campaign'. As the talks ended in Switzerland, European negotiators expressed hope for more negotiations in the future. Iran's top diplomat said he was open to further dialogue. But foreign minister Abbas Araghchi emphasised that Tehran had no interest in negotiating with the US while Israel continued attacking. Israel said its warplanes hit dozens of military targets in Iran early Friday, including missile-manufacturing facilities. 'Iran is ready to consider diplomacy if aggression ceases and the aggressor is held accountable for its committed crimes,' he said in a statement. Iran previously agreed to limit its uranium enrichment and allow international inspectors access to its nuclear sites under a 2015 deal with the US, France, China, Russia, Britain and Germany in exchange for sanctions relief. But after Mr Trump pulled the US unilaterally out of the deal during his first term, Iran began enriching uranium up to 60% – a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90% – and restricting access to its nuclear facilities. As negotiations kicked off in Geneva, Iranian missiles crashed into the northern city of Haifa, sending plumes of smoke billowing over the Mediterranean port and wounding at least 31 people. The war between Israel and Iran erupted on June 13, with Israeli air strikes targeting nuclear and military sites, top generals and nuclear scientists. At least 657 people, including 263 civilians, have been killed in Iran and more than 2,000 wounded, according to a Washington-based Iranian human rights group. Iran has retaliated by firing 450 missiles and 1,000 drones at Israel, according to Israeli army estimates. Most have been shot down by Israel's multi-tiered air defences, but at least 24 people in Israel have been killed and hundreds wounded. Addressing an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) warned against attacks on Iran's nuclear reactors, particularly its only commercial nuclear power plant in the southern city of Bushehr. 'I want to make it absolutely and completely clear: In case of an attack on the Bushehr nuclear power plant, a direct hit would result in a very high release of radioactivity to the environment,' said Rafael Grossi, chief of the UN nuclear watchdog. 'This is the nuclear site in Iran where the consequences could be most serious.' Israel has not targeted Iran's nuclear reactors, instead focusing its strikes on the main uranium enrichment facility at Natanz, centrifuge workshops near Tehran, laboratories in Isfahan and the country's Arak heavy water reactor south-west of the capital. Mr Grossi has warned repeatedly that such sites should not be military targets. After initially saying there was no damage visible from Israel's strikes on Thursday on the Arak heavy water reactor, the IAEA on Friday reported that 'key buildings at the facility were damaged', including the distillation unit. The reactor was not operational and contained no nuclear material, so the damage posed no risk of contamination, the watchdog said. Although strikes on uranium enrichment facilities can carry some risk of radiological and chemical contamination, the chance of a serious incident is far lower than at reactors such as the Russian-built Bushehr power plant. After a call with Mr Netanyahu, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he has secured Israel's promise to keep Russian workers at the plant out of harm's way. Iran has long maintained its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes. But it is the only non-nuclear-weapon state to enrich uranium up to 60%. Israel is widely believed to be the only Middle Eastern country with a nuclear weapons programme but has never acknowledged it. Dozens of Israeli warplanes struck targets across the country early Friday, including industrial sites in the north, missile storage and launchers in the west and the headquarters of an advanced research institute in Tehran, known by its acronym SPND. The US alleges SPND has conducted research and testing that could be applicable to the development of nuclear explosive devices. Iranian state media reported explosions from Israeli strikes in an industrial area of Rasht, along the coast of the Caspian Sea. Israel's military had warned the public to evacuate the area around Rasht's Industrial City, south-west of the city's downtown. But with Iran's internet shut off – now for more than 48 hours – it's unclear just how many people could see the message. While praising the Israeli military's 'significant achievements' in the conflict with Iran, army Chief of Staff Lt Gen Eyal Zamir warned that 'difficult days still lie ahead'. 'We are preparing for a wide range of possible developments,' he told the public in recorded remarks, describing the offensive against Iran as the most complex in Israeli history. 'The campaign is not over.' From the ruins of the Weizmann Institute of Science hit in an Iranian missile barrage this week, Mr Netanyahu also vowed that Israel would fight as long as necessary to destroy Iran's nuclear programme and ballistic missile arsenal. 'We face an existential danger,' he said. The Israeli military believes it has destroyed most of Iran's ballistic missile launchers, contributing to the steady decline in Iranian attacks. But several of the 35 missiles that Israel said Iran fired on Friday slipped through the country's vaunted aerial defence system, setting off air-raid sirens across the country and sending shrapnel flying into a residential area in the southern city of Beersheba, a frequent target of Iranian missiles where a hospital was hit on Thursday. A handful of cars were set ablaze in the attack but no one was seriously wounded, as residents had hunkered down in bomb shelters. The Israeli military said Iran had fired a missile rigged with fragmenting cluster munitions in its attack on Beersheba on Friday for the second time. In northern Israel, a projectile fell in downtown Haifa, wounding at least 31 people, according to the city's Rambam Medical Centre. Black smoke rose over the city's main port. The windows and walls of several buildings, including a mosque, were blown out by the blast.
NBC News
8 minutes ago
- NBC News
Judge says Mahmoud Khalil is not a flight risk or national security threat and should be released
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to release pro-Palestinian activist and Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil from immigration custody. NBC News Homeland Security Correspondent Julia Ainsley explains the judge's decision. NBC News Political and National Correspondent Jacob Soboroff is on the ground in Los Angeles as Vice President JD Vance heads to California to tour federal facilities amid Immigration and Customs Enforcement 20, 2025
Telegraph
11 minutes ago
- Telegraph
‘She's wrong': Trump throws Tulsi Gabbard under the bus on Iran
Donald Trump has said that Tulsi Gabbard and the US intelligence community is 'wrong' about Iran's nuclear capabilities. The US president doubled down on his claim that his own government officials are mistaken about how close Iran is to building a nuclear bomb when challenged by a reporter on Friday. 'What intelligence do you have that Iran is building a nuclear weapon?', Mr Trump was asked outside Air Force One. 'Your intelligence community have said they have no evidence that they are at this point.' 'Well then my intelligence community is wrong,' Mr Trump responded, before asking: 'who in my intelligence community said that?' 'Your director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard,' the reporter replies, before the president retorts: 'She's wrong.' Mr Trump added: 'Within a matter of weeks, or certainly within a matter of months, they're going to be able to have a nuclear weapon. We can't let that happen.' In March, Ms Gabbard told Congress the intelligence community 'continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorised the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003.' She also said the US was closely monitoring Iran's nuclear program, noting that the country's 'enriched uranium stockpile is at its highest levels and is unprecedented for a state without nuclear weapons.' Its the second time Mr Trump has directly contradicted Ms Gabbard on the issue, with the US president saying on Thursday that he did not 'care what she thinks'. Speaking aboard Air Force One on his return from the G7 summit in Canada, Mr Trump told reporters: 'I think they were very close to having a weapon.' Ms Gabbard later told CNN that her comments had been taken out of context and that she was on 'the same page' as Mr Trump. General Erik Kurilla, who leads US forces in the Middle East, recently testified to Congress that Iran could produce enough nuclear material for 10 weapons in three weeks. However, he did not say how long it would take to assemble the pieces into a bomb. On Thursday, Mr Trump's press secretary said Iran could produce a nuclear bomb 'within weeks'. 'Let's be very clear, Iran has all that it needs to achieve a nuclear weapon,' she said. 'All they need is a decision from the Supreme Leader to do that, and it would take a couple of weeks to complete the production of that weapon, which would of course pose an existential threat not just to Israel, but to the United States and to the entire world.' A senior intelligence official said Mr Trump was right to be concerned because its uranium enrichment far exceeds what would be needed for domestic purposes. Another senior administration official said Iran was as close to having a nuclear weapon as it could be without having one. Both spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive issues. Mr Trump's contradiction of Ms Gabbard echoed his feuds with US spy leaders during his first term, when he viewed them as part of a 'deep state' that was undermining his agenda. Most notably, he sided with Vladimir Putin in 2018 when asked if Moscow had interfered in the 2016 election, saying Mr Putin was 'extremely strong and powerful in his denial.'
