Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Thursday that the U.S. gained nothing from its strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Khamenei, in his first public comments since a ceasefire with Israel on Tuesday, said the U.S. “gained no achievements” from strikes on Fordow, a key nuclear site in Iran.
U.S. President Donald Trump has said the strikes “obliterated” Iran nuclear facilities. On Wednesday he assessed Iran’s nuclear program was destroyed.
“Israel just stated that the Nuclear Sites were OBLITERATED! Thank you to our great B-2 pilots, and all others involved!” Trump posted on social media Wednesday.
On Thursday morning, U.S. officials said battle damage assessment reports are underway, but the early information showed a successful strike.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine said the strike against Iran with 30,000-pound “bunker buster” bombs included 15 years of intelligence assessments on Fordow, Iran’s nuclear site, and many tests of the bomb. He said the United States developed the bombs with Iran’s nuclear facilities in mind.
“Operation Midnight Hammer was the culmination of those 15 years of incredible work, the air crews, the tanker crews, the weapons crews that built the weapons, the load crews that loaded it,” Caine said.
Caine said the military targeted two ventilation shafts in Iran’s Fordow nuclear site. He said Iranians tried to cover the ventilation shafts with concrete caps.
“The cap was forcibly removed by the first weapon, and the main shaft was uncovered,” Caine said.
Caine said the next five bombs were meant to go through the opened shaft and explode the main complex at 1,000 feet per second. Another six hit the other shaft.
“The weapons functioned as designed, meaning they exploded,” Caine said.
B-2 bombers dropped at least 12 “bunker busters” at Iran’s nuclear sites. The bombs weigh as much as a semi-truck and can penetrate up to 200 feet underground.
