Name: The Tactics Behind Trump’s Bombing of Iran’s Nuclear Facilities | WSJ
Uploaded: 2025-06-24T02:49:09.000Z
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The surprise attack on Iran started with deception.

Then came stealth bombers, bunker buster bombs, and Tomahawks launched by a submarine.

The US military carried out massive precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime.

Throughout the mission, we retained the element of surprise.

Here's how the mission unfolded and how the Pentagon's deliberate misdirection helped keep the attack under wraps.

Early Saturday morning, two B2 bombers left their base in Missouri and began heading west toward the Pacific.

Flight trackers quickly picked up clues about the trip.

MYTEE21 contact with MYTEE11, so they're going to look.

Including refueling operations out of Oklahoma, then California, then Hawaii.

A defense official confirmed the movement to the journal.

And news outlets quickly began reporting on the B2's moves west.

B2 stealth bombers have been moved to the Pacific.

Those multiple B2 stealth bombers are in fact headed towards Guam.

There were indications that the bombers could be heading to a staging base at Diego Garcia or Guam.

Giving Iran the impression that a potential strike could be days away.

As that was happening, another group of B2s left Whiteman and headed east.

The main strike package comprised of seven B2 spirit bombers each with two crew members proceeded quietly to the east with minimal communications.

According to the Pentagon, around 5:00 p.m. Eastern Saturday, which is 12:30 a.m. Sunday in Iran, a submarine in the Middle East fired the first shots, launching more than two dozen Tomahawk missiles.

They wouldn't land until after the last bombs were dropped.

Around 6:00 p.m., the strike package entered Iranian airspace.

According to General Dan Kane, decoy aircraft were sent ahead of the B2s, flying at high altitude and high speed to throw off Iran's air defenses.

As the strike package approached Fordo and Natanz, US fighter jets fired against any potential Iranian threats.

Then from about 6:40 to 7:00 p.m. Eastern, the B2s dropped huge bunker buster bombs on their targets, 12 GBU 57 massive ordinance penetrator bombs were dropped on Fordo.

Shortly after that, the Tomahawk missiles struck Isfahan and the strike package exited Iranian airspace to return home.

This was the largest B2 operational strike in US history and the second longest B2 mission ever flown exceeded only by those in the days following 9/11.

In one night, the US used three quarters of its believed stock pile of this type of bunker buster bomb.

But did it accomplish the goal of setting Iran's nuclear program back?

The UN Atomic Energy Agency chief said it's unclear.

400 kilograms of 60% uranium are are there and Iran has made no secrets that they have protected this material.

Satellite images show damage to the three sites.

But experts say more information is needed to assess the status of Iran's potential nuclear capabilities.

For example, Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium is stored in cylinders and is fairly mobile.

If Iran moved it before the attack or if it stayed intact, Iran could reconstitute its program fairly quickly.

And if the country's centrifuges somehow survived, that would also be key.

Vice President Vance signaled on television that Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium is still intact.

We're going to work in the coming weeks to ensure that we do something with that fuel and that's one of the things that we're going to have conversations with the Iranians about, but enriching uranium up to the point of a nuclear weapon.