"Welcome Home Boys": Video Shows US Bombers Returning After Striking Iran
The White House on Monday shared a video of the B-2 bombers returning to the Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri after bombing three Iranian nuclear facilities - Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan. US President Donald Trump 's office called the US military the "greatest force for freedom the world has known".
"B-2 bombers safely touch down at Whiteman AFB in Missouri after Iran strike. God bless the United States Military - the greatest force for freedom the world has ever known," it said.
The one-minute footage shows a B-2 bomber plane, the US' most advanced strategic weapons platform, flying over the American airbase before touching down.
God bless the United States Military — the greatest force for freedom the world has ever known. 🇺🇸🦅 pic.twitter.com/n5zjcsu3o4
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 22, 2025
The Pentagon's official rapid response team also re-shared the video, saying, "Welcome home, boys".
The B-2 is capable of entering sophisticated air defenses and delivering precision strikes against hardened targets such as Iran's buried network of nuclear research facilities. According to the US Air Force, the B-2 has massive firepower, and its "stealth" features threaten heavily defended targets.
Priced at about $2.1 billion each, B-2 bombers are the most expensive military aircraft ever built. It has a payload capacity of more than 40,000 pounds (18,144 kg), allowing the aircraft to carry various conventional and nuclear weapons. The bomber's internal weapons bays are specifically designed to maintain stealth characteristics while accommodating large ordnance loads.
The aircraft can carry up to 16 B83 nuclear bombs.
The B-2 bombers that struck Iran likely used the GBU-57 bunker busters, a 30,000-pound (about 13,600 kg) bomb that can penetrate up to 200 feet underground before exploding. The GBU-57 is the most powerful bunker buster in the US arsenal. Reports suggest that the US used six bunker buster bombs on Iran's Fordow nuclear site - which only the US had the power to destroy.
Apart from these, the US also used 30 Tomahawk cruise missiles, F-22 Raptors and F-35A Lightning fighters during their strikes.
The US joined Israel's war against Iran with its ' Operation Midnight Hammer ' on Sunday. The US claims to have "obliterated" Tehran's nuclear programme, marking Washington's first-ever direct involvement in the conflict. This has spread fears of a full-blown war in the Middle East.
In his first message after the attack, Trump warned Iran, the "bully of the Middle East", to make peace. "If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier. If peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed, and skill. Most of them can be taken out in a matter of minutes," he said.
Now, all eyes are on how Tehran responds to the situation.
Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has already warned of retaliation "without delay" and threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz.
"It is now our turn to act without delay. As a first step, we must launch a missile strike on the US naval fleet in Bahrain and simultaneously close the Strait of Hormuz to American, British, German, and French ships," Hossein Shariatmadari, Khamenei's representative, told an Iranian media.
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