US attack against Iran relied on misdirection and decoys
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While those planes got all the attention, another group of B-2s flew east carrying the bunker-busters. The officials said dozens of air-refueling tankers, a guided missile submarine, and fourth- and fifth-generation fighters were involved in the attack, which struck nuclear strikes at Fordow, Isfahan and Natanz.
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The briefing helped explain other data points that emerged in recent days, including a massive move by midair refueling tankers last week that was widely reported at the time. The White House had promised on Thursday that President Donald Trump would make a decision on a strike 'within two weeks,' suggesting there might be more time.
Iranians rallied in Tehran on Sunday after US attacks.
Vahid Salemi/Associated Press
In the end, the Saturday night operation was deemed a success by the Pentagon. No US servicemembers were lost, and Iran didn't fire at any of the US military assets, according to the officials. Hegseth said members of Congress were only notified after the planes were out of danger, contradicting earlier reports that Trump had informed Republican congressional leadership beforehand.
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The flights to deliver the targets amounted to the second-longest flights in the B-2's operational history, according to Hegseth and Air Force General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The longest was a 40-hour round trip in October 2001 in the initial phase of the Afghanistan war.
'This is a plan that took months and weeks of positioning and preparation, so that we could be ready when the president of the United States called,' Hegseth said. 'It took a great deal of precision. It involved misdirection and the highest of operational security.'
The officials said 75 precision-guided weapons were used and the operation involved some 125 aircraft. Caine said the battle damage would take time to assess but 'all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction.'
Prior to the B-2 strikes on Fordow, a submarine with the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group in the Arabian Sea fired 24 Tomahawk cruise missiles, according to Caine and a graphic released by the Pentagon.
Addressing the nation late Saturday, Trump said Iran's 'key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.'
'It would not be a surprise to me if, after an assessment period, we went back in and re-struck some of these targets to make sure that we achieved the effect,' said Joseph Votel, a former commander of the US Central Command and now a fellow at the Middle East Institute. 'That actually is a normal part of our military targeting process, is to strike, assess, and then if necessary, strike again to achieve the results that we're looking for.'
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Hegseth said the mission was focused on destroying Iran's nuclear program and not regime change in Tehran. 'The mission was not, has not, been about regime change,' he said.
While the damage assessments are still coming in, US Vice President JD Vance said he's confident the US strikes on Iranian sites 'have substantially delayed their development of a nuclear weapon — and that was the goal of this attack.'
Iran's nuclear program has been pushed back 'by a very long time,' he said in an interview with NBC's Meet the Press. 'I think that it's going to be many, many years before the Iranians are able to develop a nuclear weapon.'
With assistance from Eric Martin, María Paula Mijares Torres and Natalia Drozdiak.
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