When President Trump stood before the American people and declared that he would decide how to respond to Iran “in two weeks,” it was easy to miss the sleight of hand. I certainly did. I wrote an op-ed analyzing his strategic ambiguity, wholly unaware of what was already in motion. Like a master poker player flashing indifference before revealing a royal flush, Trump’s public vagueness was not hesitation, it was deliberate misdirection. What followed was Operation Midnight Hammer, a strike of staggering precision and secrecy, unrivaled in military history.

At 10:09 PM Central Time on Friday, June 20, 2025, the first of seven B-2 Spirit bombers lifted off from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. Each aircraft, a flying wing of stealth and lethality, carried two pilots and two 30,000-pound GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrators—the heaviest guided bombs in the US arsenal. Their target: Iran’s most fortified nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.

The B-2s flew 18 hours to Iran, conducting multiple mid-air refuelings assisted by a coordinated fleet of KC-135 Stratotankers departing from Altus Air Force Base in Oklahoma. At 5 PM Eastern, as the bombers approached Iranian airspace, a US Navy submarine launched more than two dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles, saturating Iranian air defenses and critical infrastructure. By 7:05 PM, it was over. The B-2s, undetected and unchallenged, dropped 14 MOPs with pinpoint accuracy and began their journey to Guam. Iran never saw them coming.

This was not just a military operation. It was a philosophical demonstration of deterrence through dominance, an exercise in strategic elegance, and an affirmation of American sovereignty. At a time when foreign adversaries doubted the resolve of the United States, Operation Midnight Hammer answered with decisive finality. Iran’s nuclear ambitions, once a whispered inevitability, were reduced to smoldering rubble beneath mountains of reinforced concrete.

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On Sunday the Pentagon revealed new details of its secret “Operation Midnight Hammer” attack on Iran’s nuclear sites:

• The Pentagon says at 2:10 a.m. local time, the lead B-2 bomber dropped 2 GBU-57 bunker buster bombs on the first aim point at Fordo.
• 14 total massive ordinance penetrators were dropped on Iranian targets, followed by Tomahawk missiles.
• It was the largest B-2 operational strike in U.S. history.
• 75 precision guided weapons were used during the operation.
• More than 125 U.S. military aircraft took part in the mission.
• The Pentagon says it deployed several deception tactics over Iran as it moved to strike nuclear facilities.
• The U.S. is unaware of any shots fired by Iran at U.S. warplanes on their way into Iran’s airspace.
• Iran’s surface-to-air systems did not see the U.S. planes throughout the mission.
• The initial assessment indicates all three nuclear sites sustained extreme damage and destruction.

The Pentagon reports U.S. forces in the region remain on high alert.