U.S. hits Iran nuclear facilities, braces for counterattack
B-2 stealth bombers conducted a series of strikes on targets in Iran, according to a Defense official. There were no U.S. casualties in the attack.
WASHINGTON − The United States has attacked Iran, bombing sites associated with the country’s nuclear facilities, President Donald Trump announced late June 21 in a social media post.
B-2 stealth bombers carried out a series of strikes on targets in Iran, according to a senior Defense Department official. There were no U.S. casualties.
Measures to protect the nearly 40,000 U.S. troops in the region have been incrementally increased over the past two weeks, said the official, who was not authorized to speak publicly. The Army has been at the third of four levels of alert at most places in the region, the official said.
Iran is expected to retaliate in some way, the official said. But Iran’s ability to counterattack has been degraded by Israeli airstrikes. Iran is still believed to have some offensive capacity, including drones that could target U.S. bases in the region, the official said.
B-2 stealth bombers are based at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. They are the only aircraft that can deliver the Pentagon’s largest conventional bomb, the bunker-busting GBU-57. That bomb can penetrate deep into the ground, even through concrete, before it delivers a devastating explosive charge.
The deeply buried nuclear sites in Iran probably would have required multiple strikes to damage or destroy the equipment they held.
"A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow," Trump said on Truth Social. "All planes are safely on their way home." The site is buried under a mountain.
Israel’s airstrikes and drone attacks unleashed inside Iran had compromised what had been considered robust air defenses, the official said.
It was unclear whether other U.S. warplanes took part in the raid. But it’s likely that the Pentagon took measures to ensure it could rescue pilots if they had been shot down or if mechanical failure had forced pilots to eject from their warplanes.
Now the Pentagon will brace for a counterattack. In 2020, after the Pentagon killed Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani, Iran responded by firing 13 ballistic missiles at an air base in Iraq. The attack wounded more than 100 U.S. troops.