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Egypt Independent
15 minutes ago
- Politics
- Egypt Independent
US did not use bunker-buster bombs on one of Iran's nuclear sites, top general tells lawmakers, citing depth of the target
Washington CNN — 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 percent 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. Air Force Gen. Dan Caine leaves following a closed briefing on the situation in Iran for members of the US Senate on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on June 26. Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters 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. This image from Planet Labs provided by the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey shows the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Research Center on June 27. Planet Labs 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.
Time of India
9 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Operation Midnight Hammer: 'Bunker-busters' not used on Iran's Isfahan nuclear site, top US general tells senators; cites target depth
The United States military did not use the "bunker-buster" bombs on Iran's Isfahan nuclear facility during last week's Operation Midnight Hammer, chairman joint chiefs of staff, General Dan Caine, told senators during a classified briefing. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The facility is so deep that the bomb - actual name Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) - likely would have not been effective, the general informed senators on Thursday, CNN . US officials believe that Isfahan's underground structures contain nearly 60 per cent of the Islamic Republic's enriched nuclear stockpile, which Tehran would need in order to ever produce nukes. Only Tomahawk missiles were used to strike Isfahan. On the other hand, the B-2 Spirit bombers dropped more than a dozen bunker-busters on the other two targets - Fordow and Natanz. The classified session was held by Caine, defense secretary Pete Hegseth, secretary of state Marco Rubio and John Ratcliffe, director, CIA. During the briefing, Ratcliffe said that the US intelligence community assesses that the majority of Iran's enriched nuclear material is buried at Isfahan and Fordow, according to an official. Following the strikes, a preliminary assessment by the Defense Intelligence Agency the attack did not destroy the core components of Iran's nuclear programme, including its enriched uranium, and likely only set it back by months. The assessment was disputed by members of the Donald Trump administration. President Trump has repeatedly asserted that Iran's nuclear programme was "obliterated."
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Politics
- 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. Spokespeople for Caine did not return requests for comment. 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
18 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Matt Reeves Shares Photo of Script for ‘The Batman Part II'
It would seem Matt Reeves has finally delivered a script for 'The Batman Part II,' on time and as promised. The director shared a photo on Friday of himself seated with co-writer Mattson Tomlin (upcoming John Wick spinoff 'Caine') captioned 'Partners in Crime (Fighting),' along with a blurry image of a script with the Bat Signal logo on the cover. More from IndieWire Screen Talk with David Koepp on 'Jurassic World: Rebirth' and How to Build a Blockbuster Why 'M3GAN 2.0' Is More 'Terminator 2' Than 'Child's Play' Partners in Crime (Fighters) @mattsontomlin — Matt Reeves (@mattreevesLA) June 27, 2025 A rep for DC Studios did not respond to IndieWire's request for comment. But the timing of the photo matches the planned timeline that DC Studios head James Gunn previously outlined. Gunn said in an interview that fans need to 'get off Matt Reeves' nuts' amid some consistent questions about the status of the Robert Pattinson-led superhero sequel and said Reeves was expected to deliver the script by the end of this month. If all is good to go, the movie could begin shooting in London by January, as IndieWire previously reported. The movie is expected to hit theaters in 2027. Gunn had also defended Reeves and suggested that these things just take time. 'Well, I don't think Matt really pays attention to that stuff so much,' Gunn said. 'He's got a lot of other things happening, so I don't think he lets it affect him. He's fine. But I am irritated by people. I mean, it's just that thing people don't need to be entitled about. It's going to come out when he feels good about the screenplay. And Matt's not going to give me the screenplay until he feels good about the screenplay.' So there you have it. We have a script. 'The Batman Part II' had been delayed several times amid the regime change at DC Studios, and fans no doubt had questions and concerns after the success of spinoff 'The Penguin,' after seeing the fate of 'Batgirl,' or in knowing that 'The Batman' and its sequel would not be considered canon in the new DCU but would be part of the 'Elseworlds' banner. But fans can presumably put those fears to rest now. For some fanboys looking for some clues, Tomlin recently retweeted a page from the comic 'Batman: The Imposter #1,' in which Batman sheds a tear after realizing that Gotham for the first time in 54 years experienced a night completely without violent crime. 'The Batman Part II' is understandably a priority, though. The first film, which starred Pattinson as Bruce Wayne, made $772 million worldwide at the box office. The film also starred Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Wright, Colin Farrell, John Turturro, Andy Serkis, Peter Sarsgaard, and Barry Keoghan in a cameo role as a prisoner who appeared to be the Joker. Best of IndieWire Guillermo del Toro's Favorite Movies: 56 Films the Director Wants You to See 'Song of the South': 14 Things to Know About Disney's Most Controversial Movie Nicolas Winding Refn's Favorite Films: 37 Movies the Director Wants You to See
Miami Herald
21 hours ago
- Politics
- Miami Herald
US military shows off bombs it used in Iran
By Dean Murray The U.S. Air Force has shown off the devastating effects of their bunker-buster bombs as used in Iran. Air Force Gen. Dan "Razin" Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, offered a detailed account of the U.S. military's unprecedented strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, codenamed Operation Midnight Hammer. The Pentagon press conference, held Thursday (June 26), saw Gen. Caine show off test footage of the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, or "bunker buster," used for the first time in combat during the strike. At the briefing, held alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Gen. Caine recounted the 15-year effort by U.S. defense experts to analyse and develop weapons capable of penetrating Iran's deeply buried Fordo nuclear site. The U.S. Air Force said the bomb test shown "demonstrated the Air Force's ability to severely damage or destroy targets, including those concealed heavily within reinforced underground facilities, or hardened mountain complexes." The post US military shows off bombs it used in Iran appeared first on Talker. Copyright Talker News. All Rights Reserved.
