Latest news with #B2Bombers
Fox News
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Former MLB manager Buck Showalter recalls security screening experience at US airport amid Iran tensions
President Donald Trump has said the Iran nuclear program sites targeted by American B-2 stealth bombers were "obliterated." The tense situation in Iran unfolded the same day former MLB manager Buck Showalter was traveling through New York City. Showalter, named the majors' Manager of the Year four times during his lengthy managerial career, recalled his experience during a recent appearance on OutKick's "Don't @ Me with Dan Dakich." "Let me tell you what, note to yourself, try not to travel in or out New York City on the day your country bombed Iran. Holy moly, full alert," the former New York Mets skipper said when asked by Dakich whether he had traveled as tensions in Iran reached its latest heights. Showalter added he is a proponent of tight security measures at airports throughout the U.S. "The airport was a lot of fun, Dan, let's put it that way. You know what the people at the security … I want them to check everybody. "Be diligent about it. Take your time, I will stand in line a few more minutes, get it right. Go head run that bag back through again. Make him go through it again. Everybody complaining about security. At what? What do you want them to do. Ah, it's OK. Today is a free day. Just go right ahead." While Showalter's most recent managerial stint was with the Mets, he started his coaching career in the Bronx with the New York Yankees. He was eventually promoted and named the team's manager. Showalter also managed the Arizona Diamondbacks, Texas Rangers and Baltimore Orioles. Although U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Iranian sites were "destroyed," U.S. intelligence agencies continue to assess the damage. The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency's preliminary report, obtained by The Associated Press, said the strikes caused significant damage to the Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan sites. However, the report also noted the sites were not believed to be destroyed. Israel claimed it has set back Iran's nuclear program by "many years," the AP reported. The latest satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies showed considerable damage to the three nuclear sites. Follow Fox News Digital's sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.
Daily Mail
17 hours ago
- Politics
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE The truth behind Trump's bombings and the huge Iran secret kept from the world that's hoodwinked all of America
Two days before American B-2 stealth bombers dropped the biggest payload of explosives since World War II on Iran, trucks were seen lining up outside the primary target at Fordow. Satellite images showed scores of cargo vehicles outside a tunnel entrance to Iran's key nuclear base inside a mountain. Donald Trump has insisted that the Islamic Republic's nuclear program was destroyed in the precision strikes, an assessment backed by the CIA and Israeli intelligence. But there was also a frantic effort to move centrifuges and highly enriched uranium before US bombers attacked, the key question for the Pentagon now is: where did it go? One possibility, according to experts, is a secret facility buried even deeper under another mountain 90 miles south of Fordow: 'Mount Doom.' In Farsi, the potential new ground zero for Iran's nuclear program is Kuh-e Kolang Gaz La, otherwise known in English as 'Pickaxe Mountain,' located in the Zagros Mountains in central Iran on the outskirts of one of the regime's other nuclear sites at Natanz. 'It is plausible that Iran moved centrifuges and highly enriched uranium (HEU) to secret or hardened locations prior to the recent strikes - including possibly to facilities near Pickaxe Mountain,' Christoph Bluth, professor of international relations and security at the University of Bradford, told the Daily Mail. Previous intelligence had showed 'large tunnels being bored into the mountain, with possible infrastructure for an advanced enrichment facility,' he claimed. 'The site may be buried 100 meters below the surface. So it is conceivable that advanced centrifuge cascades have been hidden there, but there is no specific evidence at this time to confirm where centrifuges and fissile material has been moved to.' A satellite picture provided by Maxar Technologies and taken on June 19, 2025, shows trucks positioned near the entrance of Iran's Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant Previous satellite images have shown heavy construction at Pickaxe, and Iran reportedly dismissed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) when asked what was occurring in the bowels of the mountain. Experts have suggested that, if there was a centrifuge hall being built there, it could be bigger than Fordow. The site has four tunnel entrances, each is 20 feet wide by 26 feet high, and experts who have analyzed satellite data suggest its tunnels could go well beyond 382 feet deep, further underground than Fordow. 'It would be much harder to destroy using conventional weapons, such as like a typical bunker buster bomb,' said Steven De La Fuente, a research associate at the Institute for Science and International Security in Washington. According to Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the IAEA, the Iranian regime may have moved about 880lbs of uranium that was being stored in casks the size of scuba tanks and was transportable by vehicles. If material from Fordow was hauled to Pickaxe Mountain, it would have likely been driven for two hours along Iran's Route 7 freeway. The emergence of Pickaxe Mountain comes amid a furious row within the Trump administration over the impact of Saturday's strikes on Fordow and two other Iranian nuclear sites, Natanz and Isfahan. A preliminary US intelligence assessment determined with 'low confidence' that Iran's nuclear program was only set back by a matter of months. The initial report was prepared by the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon's main intelligence arm, which is one of 18 US intelligence agencies. However, the classified assessment is at odds with that of President Trump and high-ranking US officials who said the three sites had been 'obliterated.' Weapons expert David Albright, founder and president of the Institute for Science and International Security, concluded the centrifuge halls at Fordow were destroyed by the numerous 30,000lb bombs the US dropped. A video shows a Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) 'buster bunker' bomb just before hitting a target during a Pentagon test After viewing satellite images, he said the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOP) were dropped at one end of the centrifuge hall, and on a ventilator shaft. 'Basically, what you have is a very big explosion that will blow one way and then perpendicular,' he concluded. 'It would have destroyed the inside of that centrifuge plant. 'We believe that the MOP went into the hall. We think those centrifuges have been mostly destroyed. I think these reports that somehow there weren't centrifuges taken out are just incorrect.' Albright added: 'It is pretty devastating. A lot of their above-ground facilities that are a critical part of the centrifuge program have been destroyed. A lot of what really is left is sort of what I call the residuals or the remnants of the program.' Iran likely lost nearly 20,000 centrifuges at Natanz and Fordow, he estimated, creating a 'major bottleneck' for any attempt to restart its nuclear program. Andrea Stricker, deputy director of the nonproliferation and biodefense program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, concluded that, for Iran, 'weaponization may be impossible for the foreseeable future.' But, she added: 'Washington and Jerusalem must act swiftly to eliminate any of Tehran's remaining HEU stocks, advanced centrifuges, and weaponization capabilities.
Free Malaysia Today
a day ago
- Politics
- Free Malaysia Today
Pentagon chief backs Trump, says strikes on Iran were successful
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth cited intelligence officials as saying Iran's nuclear facilities had been destroyed. (AP pic) WASHINGTON : US defence secretary Pete Hegseth insisted today that American strikes on Iranian nuclear sites were a success, backing president Donald Trump and berating the media for covering an intelligence report that questioned the results of the operation. American B-2 bombers hit two Iranian nuclear sites with massive GBU-57 bunker-buster bombs last weekend, while a guided missile submarine struck a third site with Tomahawk cruise missiles. 'President Trump created the conditions to end the war, decimating – choose your word – obliterating, destroying Iran's nuclear capabilities,' Hegseth told journalists at the Pentagon, referring to a 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran. Trump has called the strikes a 'spectacular military success' and repeatedly said they 'obliterated' the nuclear sites. Today, he insisted that Iran did not manage to move nuclear materials – including enriched uranium – ahead of the US military action. 'Nothing was taken out of facility. Would take too long, too dangerous, and very heavy and hard to move!' Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. However, US media revealed a preliminary American intelligence assessment earlier this week that said the strikes only set back Iran's nuclear programme by months – coverage sharply criticised by Hegseth. 'Whether it's fake news CNN, MSNBC or the New York Times, there's been fawning coverage of a preliminary assessment.' The document was 'leaked because someone had an agenda to try to muddy the waters and make it look like this historic strike wasn't successful', Hegseth said. Trump has also lashed out at coverage of the intelligence report, calling for journalists to lose their jobs. 'Get a big shovel' Hegseth did not definitively state that the enriched uranium and centrifuges at the heart of Iran's controversial nuclear programme had been wiped out, but cited intelligence officials – although giving little detail – as saying the nuclear facilities were destroyed. 'If you want to know what's going on at Fordo, you better go there and get a big shovel, because no one's under there right now,' Hegseth said, referring to the deep-underground nuclear site. Among the officials cited by Hegseth was US director of national intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who said the previous day that 'Iran's nuclear facilities have been destroyed'. He also referred to a statement by CIA chief John Ratcliffe that said: 'A body of credible intelligence indicates Iran's nuclear programme has been severely damaged by the recent, targeted strikes.' Ratcliffe pointed to a 'historically reliable and accurate' source of information indicating that 'several key Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the course of years'. International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi, speaking today on French radio, meanwhile said Iran's uranium-enriching centrifuges had been knocked out. 'Given power of these (bombs) and the characteristics of a centrifuge, we already know that these centrifuges are no longer operational,' Grossi said. Israel launched an unprecedented air campaign targeting Iranian nuclear sites, scientists and top military brass on June 13 in a bid to end the country's nuclear programme, which Tehran says is for civilian purposes but Washington and other powers insist is aimed at acquiring atomic weapons. Trump had spent weeks pursuing a diplomatic path to replace the nuclear deal with Tehran that he tore up during his first term in 2018, but he ultimately decided to take military action. The US operation was massive, involving more than 125 US aircraft including stealth bombers, fighters and aerial refuelling tankers as well as a guided missile submarine.
Fox News
a day ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Ex-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice calls US strikes on Iran a 'shot in the arm' for American credibility
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States and Israel's strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities are a significant moment for the Middle East and a sign of bolstered American credibility on the global stage. Rice joined "Special Report" on Thursday after the United States struck three Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend, praising the American military and Israeli forces for their accomplishments. "We will eventually know precisely how much the Iranian program was damaged, but I think all of the evidence is that it was substantially, significantly damaged to the place that, for a while at least, it will be hard to build a nuclear weapon," she said. Iran's Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites were hit early Sunday morning by U.S. B-2 bombers and Tomahawk missiles as part of Operation Midnight Hammer. The B-2 bombers flew for 37 hours non-stop from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri to drop 12 GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators on Fordow and two on Natanz. More than two dozen cruise missiles were also launched at Isfahan from a U.S. submarine. Top Trump administration officials have maintained the "obliteration" of Iran's nuclear program in the days following the strikes despite questions regarding the whereabouts of the Islamic Republic's highly enriched uranium. "President Trump directed the most complex and secretive military operation in history. And it was a resounding success, resulting in a ceasefire agreement and the end of the 12 Day War," said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during a Thursday press briefing at the Pentagon. "There's been a lot of discussion about what happened and what didn't happen. Step back for a second. Because of decisive military action, President Trump created the conditions to end the war, decimating, choose your word, obliterating, destroying Iran's nuclear capabilities." Rice told Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier that she believes the U.S. strikes set Iran's nuclear program back significantly. She criticized a leaked, "low-confidence" preliminary intelligence assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency — which claimed President Donald Trump's strikes did not destroy key components of Iran's nuclear facilities — as "irresponsible." "When you look at what the Israelis were able to do to Hezbollah, what they were able to do to Hamas — the significant efforts against the Iranian military establishment, against scientists. This really is a now-crippled Iran, and a crippled Iran is good for the region," the Stanford professor explained. The Trump administration is pushing for diplomatic talks with the Iranians following Operation Midnight Hammer, but Rice argued she has no doubts that the Iranian regime isn't interested in peace, given its "legitimacy" is based on destroying Israel. "We've had 46 years of the Iranians destabilizing the region, killing Americans. We've had 46 years of their proxies holding terror against Israel, against Iraq, against the people of the Middle East. So, no, they don't want peace," she said. The former Bush official added that the U.S. strikes were a "shot in the arm for American credibility" on the global stage following former President Joe Biden's "disastrous" withdrawal from Afghanistan. "Credibility is not something that you establish one day and then you sort of dial it in and say it's done. We have to keep establishing that the United States is going to try and shape the international system, not just be a victim of it," Rice said. "But what's happened in the last couple of days is very, very good for American credibility."
RNZ News
2 days ago
- Politics
- RNZ News
Pentagon chief Hegseth backs Trump on success of Iran strikes
By W G Dunlop, AFP US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth Photo: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth insisted on Thursday (US time) that American strikes on Iranian nuclear sites were a success, backing President Donald Trump and berating the media for covering an intelligence report that questioned the results of the operation. American B-2 bombers hit two Iranian nuclear sites with massive GBU-57 bunker-buster bombs last weekend, while a guided missile submarine struck a third site with Tomahawk cruise missiles. "President Trump created the conditions to end the war, decimating - choose your word - obliterating, destroying Iran's nuclear capabilities," Hegseth told journalists at the Pentagon, referring to a 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran. Trump has called the strikes a "spectacular military success" and repeatedly said they "obliterated" the nuclear sites. On Thursday, he insisted that Iran did not manage to move nuclear materials, including enriched uranium, ahead of the US military action. "Nothing was taken out of facility. Would take too long, too dangerous, and very heavy and hard to move!" Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. However, US media revealed a preliminary American intelligence assessment earlier this week that said the strikes only set back Iran's nuclear programme by months - coverage sharply criticised by Hegseth. "Whether it's fake news CNN, MSNBC or the New York Times , there's been fawning coverage of a preliminary assessment." The document was "leaked because someone had an agenda to try to muddy the waters and make it look like this historic strike wasn't successful", Hegseth said. Trump has also lashed out at coverage of the intelligence report, calling for journalists to lose their jobs. h] 'Get a big shovel' Hegseth did not definitively state that the enriched uranium and centrifuges at the heart of Iran's controversial nuclear programme had been wiped out, but cited intelligence officials, although giving little detail, as saying the nuclear facilities were destroyed. "If you want to know what's going on at Fordo, you better go there and get a big shovel, because no one's under there right now," Hegseth said, referring to the deep-underground nuclear site. U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a news conference at the Pentagon on June 26, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia. Photo: AFP / Getty Images / Andrew Harnik Among the officials cited by Hegseth was US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who said the previous day that "Iran's nuclear facilities have been destroyed". He also referred to a statement by CIA chief John Ratcliffe that said: "A body of credible intelligence indicates Iran's nuclear programme has been severely damaged by the recent, targeted strikes." Ratcliffe pointed to a "historically reliable and accurate" source of information indicating that "several key Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed and would have to be rebuilt over the course of years". International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi, speaking on Thursday on French radio, meanwhile said Iran's uranium-enriching centrifuges had been knocked out. "Given power of these (bombs) and the characteristics of a centrifuge, we already know that these centrifuges are no longer operational," Grossi said. Israel launched an unprecedented air campaign targeting Iranian nuclear sites, scientists and top military brass on 13 June in a bid to end the country's nuclear programme, which Tehran says is for civilian purposes but Washington and other powers insist is aimed at acquiring atomic weapons. Trump had spent weeks pursuing a diplomatic path to replace the nuclear deal with Tehran that he tore up during his first term in 2018, but he ultimately decided to take military action. The US operation was massive, involving more than 125 US aircraft including stealth bombers, fighters and aerial refueling tankers as well as a guided missile submarine. -AFP
