B-2 Bomber Strike on Iran’s Nuclear Facilities Has Us a Little Confused

Key Points and Summary – Following the US “Operation Midnight Hammer” strike that reportedly “obliterated” Iran’s key nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, the critical question remains: how successful was the attack, really?

-While President Trump has declared a “bullseye” and total success, satellite imagery shows severe damage but may not confirm the complete destruction of the deeply buried underground components.

-Experts like former US negotiator Richard Nephew caution that it’s unknown if Iran managed to relocate its enriched uranium stockpile before the strikes.

-The Pentagon is still conducting its battle damage assessment, leaving the true extent of the setback to Iran’s nuclear program uncertain for now.

The Attack on Iran’s Nuclear Facilities: Did It Work or Not? 

Shortly after President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. had attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities, he characterized the attack as a complete success.

“Monumental Damage was done to all Nuclear sites in Iran, as shown by satellite images. Obliteration is an accurate term!,” Trump declared on Truth Social on Sunday, a day after the attack. “The white structure shown is deeply imbedded [sic] into the rock, with even its roof well below ground level, and completely shielded from flame. The biggest damage took place far below ground level. Bullseye!!!”

The question is, was the attack really as successful as Trump claimed? And if Iran’s nuclear capabilities were “destroyed,” how long can they stay destroyed? In the two days since the U.S. attack, there has been a variety of reporting about those questions.

The Pentagon had stated that the sites sustained “extremely severe damage,” and they believed the strikes had achieved “destruction of capabilities” at the Fordow site.

“I think that it is going to be many, many years before the Iranians are able to develop a nuclear weapon,” Vice President J.D. Vance said on Meet the Press on Sunday.

Checking the Satellites

The Washington Post, citing satellite images, reported that “satellite images provide the first glimpses of the aftermath of U.S. strikes on three sites said to be central to Iran’s nuclear program, revealing severe damage at aboveground facilities as well as the entry points left by bombs that burrowed deep underground to target some of the program’s most protected operations.”

The Post reported that a B-2 stealth bomber initially dropped two bunker-busting Massive Ordnance Penetrators, or MOPs, on the Fordow nuclear facility. In all, according to Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, B-2s dropped 14 bombs on Iran’s nuclear facilities, while two dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles were launched from a U.S. submarine.

Per the Wall Street Journal, seven B-2 bombers participated in the attack, all of them taking off from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. They flew for 18 hours to the other side of the world, refueling in flight.

An unnamed senior Israeli official told the Post that according to their early assessment, the site in Isfahan was “annihilated” and the sites in Fordow and Natanz were “severely damaged.”

However, per the newspaper, experts caution against drawing definitive conclusions right away.

“Underground impacts depend on a variety of factors, including depth of detonation, surrounding geology and any secondary explosions due to any combustible material in the structure. But satellite images provide important early indications about what was hit,” the Post said.

There’s also the possibility that Iran may have been able to smuggle some nuclear materials out of the facilities, especially since Israel’s strikes and Trump’s public musings about joining them had been going on for more than a week.

Still Assessing Iran Strike

According to The Wall Street Journal, the Pentagon is still investigating what, if anything, remains as part of Iran’s nuclear capability.  General Caine also said, per that report, that “additional assessments” will be necessary to determine

“Israel and the U.S. could nonetheless find the decadeslong battle they have waged against Tehran’s nuclear activities could continue indefinitely if the Iranians managed to relocate some of their stocks of highly enriched uranium and other equipment before the U.S. military attacked,” the Journal said.

Experts also weighed in on the damage.

“We can reasonably assume that centrifuges in Fordow and Natanz were destroyed,” Richard Nephew, a former negotiator with Iran during the Obama Administration, told the Journal. “But we still don’t know if that is all the centrifuges. And we don’t know what they may have taken out before the attack, especially Iran’s stock of enriched uranium.”

About the Author:

Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.

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