B-2 used massive 30,000 pound bunker-buster bombs to strike three nuclear sites in Iran, joining Israel’s attacks on the country.
The president said US planes dropped bombs on Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan in an effort to disable the Islamic republic’s nuclear enrichment capability and set back its alleged pursuit of an atomic weapon.
The main target was Fordow, a uranium enrichment plant hidden in a remote mountainside that is vital to Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
American “bunker-buster” bombs carried by the B-2 were considered the best chance of destroying Iran’s uranium enrichment facility at Fordow, buried deep under a mountain.
Due to Fordow’s depth below ground only the US has the kind of “bunker buster” bomb big enough to destroy the site. That US bomb is called the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP).
It weighs 13,000kg (30,000lb) and is able to penetrate about 18m (60ft) of concrete or 61m (200ft) of earth before exploding, according to experts.
A U.S. official said that six B-2 bombers dropped a dozen 30,000-pound bunker buster bombs on the Fordo nuclear site, which lies deep underground, and Navy submarines fired 30 TLAM cruise missiles at the Natanz and Isfahan sites. One B-2 also dropped two bunker busters on Natanz, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations.
Several B-2 Stealth Bombers and 8 refueling tankers departed Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri the past day to Guam. However, it could be a strategy as the actual strike package was already flying East over the Atlantic toward its targets in Iran.
The U.S. Air Force B-2A “Spirit” Long-Range Stealth Bombers that struck the Iranian nuclear sites early Sunday flew non-stop for about 37 hours from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, refueling several times mid-air, a U.S. official told the New York Times.
Announcing the attacks earlier on Saturday on his Truth Social platform, Trump said the planes had dropped “a full payload of BOMBS” on Fordow, and were all safely on their way home.
Tasnim News Agency said Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility was only partially damaged by US strikes.
