Video: Massive intel operation that led to Iran strikes revealed by top Pentagon official
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine announced on Thursday that President Donald Trump's military strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities came after two agents spent over 15 years gathering intelligence and developing the GBU-57 'bunker buster bombs.'
During a Thursday press conference, Caine explained that two unidentified agents in the Defense Threat Reduction Agency worked for over 15 years to gather intelligence and develop the GBU-57 bombs that were used in the U.S. military strike against Iran's Fordow nuclear facility. Caine noted that the Defense Threat Reduction Agency is the 'world's leading expert on deeply buried underground targets.'
Caine explained that a Defense Threat Reduction Agency officer was tasked to study and understand a 'major construction project in the mounts of Iran' in 2009. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff noted that an 'additional teammate' worked with the agent for over 15 years on the intelligence mission.
'For more than 15 years, this officer and his teammate lived and breathed this single target, Fordow, a critical element of Iran's covert nuclear weapons program,' Caine said.
Caine told reporters that the two agents documented everything at the Fordow nuclear facility, including the construction, electrical systems, ventilation, exhaust shaft, weather, discard material, and geology. Caine said the agents watched 'every nook' and 'every crater.'
READ MORE: Video: Vance slams media over negative coverage of US military strikes on Iran
'They literally dreamed about this target at night when they slept,' Caine said. 'They weren't able to discuss this with their family, their wives, their kids, their friends, but they just kept grinding it out, and along the way, they realized we did not have a weapon that could adequately strike and kill this target.'
Caine told reporters that the agents then worked with the 'industry and other tacticians' on the development of the GBU-57 bombs, conducted hundreds of tests, and dropped the bombs on 'extremely realistic targets' in order to 'kill this target at the time and place of our nation's choosing.'
After over 15 years of working on gathering intelligence and developing the GBU-57 bombs, Caine said the work of the two agents finally paid off when Trump ordered the strikes on Iran's three nuclear facilities last weekend.
Caine told reporters that he met with the two Defense Threat Reduction Agency officers on Wednesday and that one of the agents told him, 'I can't even get my head around this. My heart is so filled with the pride of being a part of this team. I am so honored to be a part of this.'
'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, [and] the load crews that loaded it,' Caine added.
IRAN WAR: The attacks on the bunkers in Iran were planned over years. General Dan 'Razin' Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, revealed that the recent destruction of Iran's nuclear infrastructure was the result of over 15 years of rigorous planning, deep strategic analysis, and… pic.twitter.com/g2AnReVSkb — @amuse (@amuse) June 26, 2025
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Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
US did not use bunker-buster bombs on one of Iran's nuclear sites, top general tells lawmakers, citing depth of the target
The US military did not use bunker-buster bombs on one of Iran's largest nuclear sites last weekend because the site is so deep that the bombs likely would not have been effective, the US' top general told senators during a briefing on Thursday. The comment by Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, which was described by three people who heard his remarks and a fourth who was briefed on them, is the first known explanation given for why the US military did not use the Massive Ordnance Penetrator bomb against the Isfahan site in central Iran. US officials believe Isfahan's underground structures house nearly 60% of Iran's enriched uranium stockpile, which Iran would need in order to ever produce a nuclear weapon. US B2 bombers dropped over a dozen bunker-buster bombs on Iran's Fordow and Natanz nuclear sites. But Isfahan was only struck by Tomahawk missiles launched from a US submarine. The classified briefing to lawmakers was conducted by Caine, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA Director John Ratcliffe. A spokesperson for Caine declined to comment, noting that he cannot comment on the chairman's classified briefing to Congress. During the briefing, Ratcliffe told lawmakers that the US intelligence community assesses that the majority of Iran's enriched nuclear material is buried at Isfahan and Fordow, according to a US official. Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy told CNN on Thursday night after receiving the briefing that some of Iran's capabilities 'are so far underground that we can never reach them. So they have the ability to move a lot of what has been saved into areas where there's no American bombing capacity that can reach it.' An early assessment produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency in the day after the US strikes said the attack did not destroy the core components of the country's nuclear program, including its enriched uranium, and likely only set the program back by months, CNN has reported. It also said Iran may have moved some of the enriched uranium out of the sites before they were attacked. The Trump officials who briefed lawmakers this week sidestepped questions about the whereabouts of Iran's stockpile of already-enriched uranium. President Donald Trump again claimed Friday that nothing was moved from the three Iranian sites before the US military operation. But Republican lawmakers emerged from the classified briefings on Thursday acknowledging that the US military strikes may not have eliminated all of Iran's nuclear materials. But they argued that doing so was not part of the military's mission. 'There is enriched uranium in the facilities that moves around, but that was not the intent or the mission,' Republican Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas told CNN. 'My understanding is most of it's still there. So we need a full accounting. That's why Iran has to come to the table directly with us, so the (International Atomic Energy Agency) can account for every ounce of enriched uranium that's there. I don't think it's going out of the country, I think it's at the facilities.' 'The purpose of the mission was to eliminate certain particular aspects of their nuclear program. Those were eliminated. To get rid of the nuclear material was not part of the mission,' GOP Rep. Greg Murphy told CNN. 'Here's where we're at: the program was obliterated at those three sites. But they still have ambitions,' said Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. 'I don't know where the 900 pounds of highly enriched uranium exists. But it wasn't part of the targets there.' '(The sites) were obliterated. Nobody can use them anytime soon,' Graham also said. Weapons expert and professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies Jeffrey Lewis told CNN that commercial satellite images show that Iran has accessed the tunnels at Isfahan. 'There were a moderate number of vehicles present at Isfahan on June 26 and at least one of the tunnel entrances was cleared of obstructions by mid-morning June 27,' Lewis said. 'If Iran's stockpile of (highly enriched uranium) was still in the tunnel when Iran sealed the entrances, it may be elsewhere now.' Additional satellite imagery captured on June 27 by Planet Labs show the entrance to the tunnels were open at the time, according to Lewis. The preliminary DIA assessment noted that the nuclear sites' above ground structures were moderately to severely damaged, CNN has reported. That damage could make it a lot harder for Iran to access any enriched uranium that does remain underground, sources said, something that Graham alluded to on Thursday. 'These strikes did a lot of damage to those three facilities,' Murphy, the Connecticut Democrat, told CNN on Thursday night. 'But Iran still has the know-how to put back together a nuclear program. And if they still have that enriched material, and if they still have centrifuges, and if they still have the capability to very quickly move those centrifuges into what we call a cascade, we have not set back that program by years. We have set it back by months.' Caine and Hegseth on Thursday said the military operation against Fordow went exactly as planned but did not mention the impacts to Isfahan and Natanz. CNN's Manu Raju contributed to this report.
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Yahoo
Hegseth defends Iran strike amid doubts over Trump's ‘obliteration' claims
The US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, has defended the US strikes on Iranian nuclear enrichment facilities and said that Donald Trump had 'decimated … obliterated' the country's nuclear program despite initial intelligence assessments that last week's strikes had failed to destroy key enrichment facilities and they could resume operations within just months. But he and the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen Dan Caine, largely based that assessment on AI modeling, showing test videos of the 'bunker buster' bombs used in the strikes and referred questions on a battle damage assessment of Fordow to the intelligence community. Speaking from the Pentagon briefing room, Hegseth cast doubt on an initial assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency, noting it was 'preliminary' and 'leaked because someone had an agenda to try to muddy the waters and make it look like this historic strike wasn't successful'. Hegseth also said he was unaware of any intelligence suggesting Iran had moved any of its highly enriched uranium. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said that Iran's 400kg stock of 60% enriched uranium could no longer be accounted for. 'I'm not aware of any intelligence … that says things were not where they were supposed to be, moved or otherwise,' Hegseth said. Hegseth also targeted the press for using leaked information in reports, as the Trump administration has indicated that it could target or even depose individual reporters for publishing the results of the initial assessment. Related: US strikes on Iran's nuclear sites only set program back by months, Pentagon report says 'Time and time again, classified information is leaked or peddled for political purposes to try to make the president look bad, and what's really happening is you're undermining the success of our incredible pilots,' Hegseth said. Caine said the strikes were successful insofar as the attack matched a model developed by the Pentagon that he said predicted the destruction of the Fordow site. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, claimed that the US strikes on Iran's nuclear sites 'did not achieve anything' and Donald Trump had 'exaggerated' their impact, in his first public comments since the ceasefire with Israel was declared. The country's foreign minister later called the damage 'serious' but added that a detailed assessment was under way. Abbas Araghchi also shut down what he said was 'speculation' that Tehran would come to the table for new talks with the US and said it 'should not be taken seriously'. He also said a bill suspending cooperation with the IAEA was now 'binding' after being passed by Iranian lawmakers and approved by a top vetting body. During the US briefing on Thursday, Caine said that the strikes targeted two ventilation shafts leading into the Fordow underground complex. The first weapons were used to demolish concrete caps designed to prevent a similar attack, and then successive 'bunker buster' bombs were aimed down the shafts on each side in order to target the 'mission space', where Iranian centrifuges were located. The weapons were 'built, tested, and loaded properly'; they were 'released on speed and on parameters'; and the 'weapons all guided to their intended targets and to their intended aim points for the weapons function as designed, meaning they exploded'. 'The majority of the damage we assess based on our extensive modeling of the blast,' Caine said. 'The primary kill mechanism in the Mission Space was a mix of over-pressure and blast ripping through the open tunnels and destroying critical hardware.' Hegseth and Caine's appearance came one day after Trump faced questions over the strike at a Nato summit at The Hague and lashed out at reporters for publishing the results of the initial intelligence assessment that he claimed had denigrated the pilots of the B-2 bombers that led the attack. The report, which was published by the Defense Intelligence Agency, said that the US strike using 14 30,000lb 'bunker buster' GBU-57 bombs did not destroy the key components at the nuclear enrichment sites and probably only set back the Iranian nuclear program by a few months. Senior Trump intelligence officials on Wednesday claimed that there was 'new evidence' that showed the sites had been destroyed. The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know. If you have something to share on this subject you can contact us confidentially using the following methods. Secure Messaging in the Guardian app The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories. Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs. This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said. If you don't already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS/Android) and go to the menu. Select 'Secure Messaging'. SecureDrop, instant messengers, email, telephone and post See our guide at for alternative methods and the pros and cons of each. The CIA director, John Ratcliffe, in a statement said that new intelligence from a 'historically reliable' source indicated that 'several key Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the course of years.' The director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, also said that 'new intelligence' showed that three nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan would take years to rebuild. Trump announced that Hegseth would give the press briefing to 'fight for the Dignity of our Great American Pilots'. 'These Patriots were very upset!' Trump wrote on Truth Social. 'After 36 hours of dangerously flying through Enemy Territory, they landed, they knew the Success was LEGENDARY, and then, two days later, they started reading Fake News by CNN and The Failing New York Times. They felt terribly!' Caine called operation Midnight Hammer, the codename for the strike against the Iranian nuclear sites, the 'culmination of 15 years of incredible work' by officers at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. Related: Trump weighs Iran strike as Pentagon officials privately divided over 'bunker buster' bombs 'In the case of Fordow, the Dtra team understood with a high degree of confidence the elements of the target required to kill its functions, and the weapons were designed, planned and delivered to ensure that they achieve the effects in the mission space,' Caine said. Yet the Guardian has previously reported that Dtra had briefed senior Pentagon officials that using conventional bombs, even as part of a wider strike package of several GBU-57s, would not penetrate deep enough underground and that it would only do enough damage to collapse tunnels and bury the Fordow enrichment site under rubble.
American Military News
8 hours ago
- American Military News
Video: Massive intel operation that led to Iran strikes revealed by top Pentagon official
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine announced on Thursday that President Donald Trump's military strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities came after two agents spent over 15 years gathering intelligence and developing the GBU-57 'bunker buster bombs.' During a Thursday press conference, Caine explained that two unidentified agents in the Defense Threat Reduction Agency worked for over 15 years to gather intelligence and develop the GBU-57 bombs that were used in the U.S. military strike against Iran's Fordow nuclear facility. Caine noted that the Defense Threat Reduction Agency is the 'world's leading expert on deeply buried underground targets.' Caine explained that a Defense Threat Reduction Agency officer was tasked to study and understand a 'major construction project in the mounts of Iran' in 2009. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff noted that an 'additional teammate' worked with the agent for over 15 years on the intelligence mission. 'For more than 15 years, this officer and his teammate lived and breathed this single target, Fordow, a critical element of Iran's covert nuclear weapons program,' Caine said. Caine told reporters that the two agents documented everything at the Fordow nuclear facility, including the construction, electrical systems, ventilation, exhaust shaft, weather, discard material, and geology. Caine said the agents watched 'every nook' and 'every crater.' READ MORE: Video: Vance slams media over negative coverage of US military strikes on Iran 'They literally dreamed about this target at night when they slept,' Caine said. 'They weren't able to discuss this with their family, their wives, their kids, their friends, but they just kept grinding it out, and along the way, they realized we did not have a weapon that could adequately strike and kill this target.' Caine told reporters that the agents then worked with the 'industry and other tacticians' on the development of the GBU-57 bombs, conducted hundreds of tests, and dropped the bombs on 'extremely realistic targets' in order to 'kill this target at the time and place of our nation's choosing.' After over 15 years of working on gathering intelligence and developing the GBU-57 bombs, Caine said the work of the two agents finally paid off when Trump ordered the strikes on Iran's three nuclear facilities last weekend. Caine told reporters that he met with the two Defense Threat Reduction Agency officers on Wednesday and that one of the agents told him, 'I can't even get my head around this. My heart is so filled with the pride of being a part of this team. I am so honored to be a part of this.' '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, [and] the load crews that loaded it,' Caine added. IRAN WAR: The attacks on the bunkers in Iran were planned over years. General Dan 'Razin' Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, revealed that the recent destruction of Iran's nuclear infrastructure was the result of over 15 years of rigorous planning, deep strategic analysis, and… — @amuse (@amuse) June 26, 2025
