Zürcher Nachrichten - US strikes on Iran: what we know

EUR -
AED 4.312395
AFN 81.599816
ALL 97.521009
AMD 451.037192
ANG 2.101446
AOA 1076.777926
ARS 1481.732606
AUD 1.803585
AWG 2.113631
AZN 1.949333
BAM 1.958543
BBD 2.371221
BDT 143.631157
BGN 1.959489
BHD 0.4427
BIF 3453.438467
BMD 1.17424
BND 1.502104
BOB 8.115366
BRL 6.446217
BSD 1.174445
BTN 100.819198
BWP 15.668677
BYN 3.843383
BYR 23015.094849
BZD 2.359004
CAD 1.604539
CDF 3387.680896
CHF 0.935847
CLF 0.028808
CLP 1105.475771
CNY 8.425052
CNH 8.424857
COP 4734.651222
CRC 593.130685
CUC 1.17424
CUP 31.117348
CVE 110.733844
CZK 24.637895
DJF 208.68582
DKK 7.460613
DOP 70.513586
DZD 152.202452
EGP 58.321778
ERN 17.613593
ETB 159.432402
FJD 2.639984
FKP 0.860313
GBP 0.861457
GEL 3.182487
GGP 0.860313
GHS 12.208472
GIP 0.860313
GMD 83.957729
GNF 10164.216748
GTQ 9.027643
GYD 245.704111
HKD 9.217598
HNL 30.823762
HRK 7.537678
HTG 153.635167
HUF 399.898539
IDR 19176.270968
ILS 3.934537
IMP 0.860313
INR 100.858311
IQD 1538.253788
IRR 49464.840412
ISK 142.59964
JEP 0.860313
JMD 187.442515
JOD 0.83257
JPY 171.335054
KES 152.05814
KGS 102.687161
KHR 4721.61692
KMF 493.753224
KPW 1056.81516
KRW 1610.775023
KWD 0.358472
KYD 0.978654
KZT 610.074415
LAK 25304.861651
LBP 105211.862666
LKR 353.344863
LRD 235.432722
LSL 20.972285
LTL 3.467224
LVL 0.710286
LYD 6.32895
MAD 10.586356
MDL 19.81241
MGA 5201.881765
MKD 61.55066
MMK 2465.364275
MNT 4208.005138
MOP 9.495999
MRU 46.623157
MUR 52.81687
MVR 18.083818
MWK 2039.061899
MXN 21.888054
MYR 4.975837
MZN 75.103972
NAD 20.971667
NGN 1802.586769
NIO 43.153367
NOK 11.86596
NPR 161.310917
NZD 1.952981
OMR 0.451458
PAB 1.174445
PEN 4.186751
PGK 4.886891
PHP 66.43574
PKR 333.777244
PLN 4.248839
PYG 9359.107515
QAR 4.274935
RON 5.061557
RSD 117.133876
RUB 92.408731
RWF 1683.85949
SAR 4.40388
SBD 9.789546
SCR 16.570562
SDG 705.128395
SEK 11.162268
SGD 1.50133
SHP 0.922768
SLE 26.42648
SLL 24623.220193
SOS 671.07786
SRD 43.743362
STD 24304.387555
SVC 10.276392
SYP 15267.376127
SZL 20.972083
THB 38.303106
TJS 11.303631
TMT 4.121581
TND 3.402358
TOP 2.750191
TRY 46.976827
TTD 7.960148
TWD 34.148998
TZS 3100.217807
UAH 49.135314
UGX 4212.900205
USD 1.17424
UYU 47.136014
UZS 14906.971119
VES 130.672017
VND 30700.492593
VUV 139.06333
WST 3.043639
XAF 656.865759
XAG 0.031912
XAU 0.000352
XCD 3.173441
XDR 0.813862
XOF 654.051311
XPF 119.331742
YER 284.342233
ZAR 20.957545
ZMK 10569.566402
ZMW 28.449359
ZWL 378.104651
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

US strikes on Iran: what we know
US strikes on Iran: what we know / Photo: - - USAF/AFP/File

US strikes on Iran: what we know

The United States has carried out strikes that caused "extremely severe damage" to three of Iran's nuclear facilities, the top US military officer, General Dan Caine, said on Sunday.

Text size:

President Donald 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 against Iran's nuclear program, which had already been bombarded in a more than week-long Israeli campaign that has also targeted Tehran's top military brass.

Below, AFP examines what we know about the US strikes on Iran -- an operation dubbed "Midnight Hammer."

- Major operation -

Caine told journalists 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.

"This mission demonstrates the unmatched reach, coordination and capability of the United States military," the general said. "No other military in the world could have done this."

Caine said it was "too early" to comment on what remains of Iran's nuclear program, but that "initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction."

- B-2 bombers -

The US employed seven B-2s in the strikes -- aircraft that can fly 6,000 nautical miles (9,600 kilometers) without refueling and which are designed to "penetrate an enemy's most sophisticated defenses and threaten its most valued, and heavily defended, targets," according to the US military.

"This was the largest B-2 operational strike in US history and the second-longest B-2 mission ever flown," according to Caine.

Several B-2s proceeded west over the Pacific as a decoy while the bombers that would take part in the strikes headed east -- a "deception effort known only to an extremely small number of planners and key leaders," the general said.

"Iran's fighters did not fly, and it appears that Iran's surface-to-air missile systems did not see us. Throughout the mission, we retained the element of surprise," Caine said.

The United States used the B-2 in operations against Serbian forces in the 1990s, flying non-stop from Missouri to Kosovo and back, and the bombers were subsequently employed in the Afghanistan and Iraq wars in the 2000s.

- Massive Ordnance Penetrator -

Caine said the B-2s dropped 14 bombs known as the GBU-57 or Massive Ordnance Penetrator -- a powerful 30,000-pound (13,600-kilogram) bunker-busting weapon that made its combat debut in the Iran operation.

The bombs -- which are designed to penetrate up to 200 feet (60 meters) underground before exploding -- were needed to hit deeply buried Iranian nuclear facilities.

Testing of the weapons began in 2004 and Boeing was in 2009 awarded a contract to complete the integration of GBU-57 with aircraft.

- Tomahawk cruise missiles -

In addition to the bombers, a US guided missile submarine in the Middle East launched more than two dozen missiles at unspecified "surface infrastructure targets" at Isfahan, one of three nuclear sites struck in the operation, Caine said.

The missiles are "designed to fly at extremely low altitudes at high subsonic speeds, and are piloted over an evasive route by several mission tailored guidance systems" and were first used in 1991 against Iraqi forces during Operation Desert Storm, according to the US military.

- Aim of the strikes -

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told journalists the strikes were launched to "neutralize the threats to our national interests posed by the Iranian nuclear program and the collective self-defense of our troops and our allies."

"This mission was not, has not been, about regime change," Hegseth told journalists.

A number of key figures in Trump's "Make America Great Again" movement have vocally opposed US strikes on Iran, and his promise to extract the United States from its "forever wars" in the Middle East played a role in his 2016 and 2024 election wins.

- What comes next? -

Trump has called on Iran to "agree to end this war," saying that "now is the time for peace."

But it remains to be seen whether the strikes will push Tehran to deescalate the conflict, or to widen it further.

If Iran chooses the latter option, it could do so by targeting American military personnel who are stationed around the Middle East, or seek to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz, which carries one-fifth of global oil output.

L.Zimmermann--NZN