Latest news with #JointChiefsofStaff
Indian Express
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
Why US refused to use bunker-buster bombs at Iran's deepest nuclear site Isfahan
The United States military did not deploy its most powerful bunker-buster bombs against one of Iran's most fortified nuclear sites, Isfahan, during last weekend's strikes, because the underground facility lies too deep for such weapons to be effective, the top US general told lawmakers in a closed-door briefing, according to CNN. Air Force General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, a 30,000-pound bunker buster, was not used at the Isfahan site as it would not have reliably destroyed the underground structures that reportedly store nearly 60 per cent of Iran's enriched uranium stockpile. Instead, the US military used Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from a submarine to strike the site. The Isfahan site, located in central Iran, is considered one of Tehran's most strategically sensitive nuclear facilities. While US B-2 bombers dropped dozens of bunker-busting bombs on the Fordow and Natanz nuclear sites, Isfahan was left to missile strikes alone. Caine's classified comments were shared during a Thursday briefing to members of Congress alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe. A spokesperson for Caine declined to comment publicly on the classified discussions. According to US intelligence officials cited in the briefing, Iran's most critical nuclear material — including highly enriched uranium — is likely located underground at both the Isfahan and Fordow sites. 'Some of Iran's capabilities are so far underground that we can never reach them,' Democratic Senator Chris Murphy told CNN after attending the briefing. '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 initial assessment by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) after the strikes found that Iran's core nuclear infrastructure — particularly its enriched uranium — survived the attack and the programme was likely only set back by several months. Some officials suspect Iran may have moved sensitive materials prior to the US operation. President Donald Trump, however, insisted Friday that 'nothing was moved' from the sites before the attack. But multiple lawmakers acknowledged that while the physical structures were heavily damaged, the operation did not aim to destroy the enriched uranium stockpile. 'There is enriched uranium in the facilities that moves around, but that was not the intent or the mission,' Republican Rep. Michael McCaul told CNN. 'We need a full accounting… that's why Iran has to come to the table.' 'The program was obliterated at those three sites. But they still have ambitions,' said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who added that he doesn't know the current location of Iran's 900 pounds of highly enriched uranium. Weapons expert Jeffrey Lewis of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies told CNN that satellite imagery from Planet Labs shows Iranian access to the Isfahan tunnels resumed on June 27, with one entrance cleared of obstructions. 'If Iran's stockpile of HEU was still in the tunnel when it was sealed, it may be elsewhere now,' Lewis said. The DIA's preliminary report confirmed moderate to severe damage to above-ground facilities at the three nuclear sites. Officials noted that while access to remaining underground uranium could be complicated, Iran's technical know-how remains intact. 'Iran still has the know-how to put back together a nuclear program,' said Senator Murphy. Murphy added, 'If they still have enriched material, centrifuges, and the capability to reassemble them into cascades, we've only delayed them by months — not years.' General Caine and Defense Secretary Hegseth confirmed the operation against Fordow went exactly as planned, but refrained from offering specifics on damage assessments at Isfahan or Natanz.
American Military News
10 hours ago
- Politics
- 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
Egypt Independent
10 hours 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.
Yahoo
a day 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
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Nicolle Wallace blasts Hegseth over performative news conference on Iran strikes
Nicolle Wallace called out Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over his performative news conference on Thursday, which she argued did little to resolve the issue 'haunting' the Trump administration in the wake of the United States' airstrikes on Iran. That issue, according to Wallace, revolves around one key question: 'Has Iran's nuclear program been — as Donald Trump asserted Saturday night and has repeated every day since — 'obliterated'?' During his remarks Thursday, Hegseth repeated Trump's claim that the facilities had been 'obliterated.' However, as Wallace noted, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, refused to use that word when describing the results of the strike. Wallace said Caine's choice encapsulated 'the whole issue that's being debated.' 'Were the strikes successful in terms of hitting targets? Yes. But did the strikes deliver the result that the administration says they did, and says they wanted?' Wallace asked. Wallace also tore into Hegseth over his treatment of the media during the news conference. 'Here's what happened when Fox News' Pentagon reporter, Hegseth's former colleague, Jennifer Griffin, asked the incredibly important and respectful and relevant question whether the Iranians moved uranium out of the Fordo site,' Wallace said, before playing a clip of Griffin and Hegseth's exchange, during which the defense secretary personally attacked his former colleague and accused her of being 'about the worst' at intentionally misrepresenting what Trump says. Wallace also praised Griffin for standing up for herself and her reporting: That was America's secretary of defense saying to Fox's highly respected, highly credible, highly experienced Pentagon correspondent, 'Jennifer, you're the worst.' And you saw her there take issue with the assessment and go on to defend her reporting, none of which has been disproven. It's just a taste of what happened today at the Pentagon from the secretary of defense, whose salary is paid for by all of our taxpayer dollars. Watch Wallace's full comments on Hegseth's news conference in the clip at the top. This article was originally published on
