• The United States carried out strikes that caused “severe damages” to three of Iran’s nuclear facilities on June 22.

• Dubbed ‘Operation Midnight Hammer’, US officials said the plan was characterised by a precision strike that devastated the Iranian nuclear programme.

• The US deployed multiple combined assets to inflict significant damage at the sites of Fordo, Natanz and Esfahan. 

• The strikes involved more than 125 US aircraft including B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, fighters, aerial refueling tankers, a guided missile submarine and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft.

How was the operation carried out?

• The operation relied on a series of deceptive tactics and decoys to maintain the secrecy, which was preceded by nine days of Israeli attacks.

• One group of B-2 stealth bombers travelled west from Missouri as decoys, drawing the attention of amateur plane spotters, government officials and some media as they headed toward a US air base in the Pacific. 

• At the same time, seven other B-2s carrying two bunker buster bombs apiece flew eastward, keeping communications to a minimum so as not to draw any attention.

• After 18 hours of furtive flying that required aerial refuelling, the armed B-2 Spirit bombers, each with two crew members, arrived on time and without detection in the Eastern Mediterranean, from where they launched their attack runs. 

• Before crossing into Iran, the B-2s were escorted by stealthy US fighter jets and reconnaissance aircraft.

• About an hour before the B-2s entered Iran, a US submarine in the region launched more than two dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles against key targets, including a site in Esfahan where uranium is prepared for enrichment.

• As the US bombers approached their targets, they watched out for Iranian fighter jets and surface-to-air missiles, but encountered none.

• The first B-2 bomber dropped its pair of GBU-57 massive ordnance penetrators on the deeply buried Fordo uranium enrichment plant.

• It was the first time these so-called bunker busters had ever been used in combat. Each 30,000-pound bomb is designed to burrow into the ground before detonating a massive warhead.

• The US bombs fell for about half an hour, with cruise missiles fired from submarines being the last American weapons to hit their targets, which included a third nuclear site at Esfahan. B-2 stealth bombers delivered a total of 420,000 pounds of explosives.

• This was the largest B-2 operational strike in US history, and the second longest B-2 mission ever flown, exceeded only by those in the days following 9/11.

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