Operation Midnight Hammer

Operation Midnight Hammer Latest News

The operation that the US launched on Iran was named Operation Midnight Hammer, the Pentagon announced recently.

About Operation Midnight Hammer

• It is the codename for a covert U.S.–led military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities carried out around midnight on June 21–22, 2025. 
• It aimed to cripple Iran’s nuclear program.
• The coordinated assault involved over 125 military aircraft, including B-2 stealth bombers, the deployment of 14 GBU-57 bunker-buster bombs, and more than 30 Tomahawk missiles launched from US submarines in the Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea.
• This attack was the first time that the United States used its largest bunker-busting bomb, the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), in an operational conflict. 
• Targeted Sites:
  • The operation targeted two uranium enrichment facilities at Fordow and Natanz and one facility at Isfahan, which conducts several activities related to Iran’s nuclear program.
  • Natanz and Fordow are the only operational enrichment facilities in Iran. 
  • The US attacked Natanz and Fordow with B-2 bombers equipped with MOPs and only attacked Isfahan with Tomahawk cruise missiles. 

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Why is Fordow so important?

• Located deep within a mountain 29 kilometers north of the Iranian city of Qom, the Fordow uranium enrichment facility stands as a highly protected and strategically central site within Iran’s nuclear program. 
• Its subterranean placement provides significant protection against potential aerial bombardment, a design choice indicative of its critical role. 
• The facility is approximately 54,000 square feet and is believed to house 3,000 centrifuges.
• Under the terms of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Iran was explicitly prohibited from conducting enrichment activities at Fordow. 
• However, following the U.S. withdrawal from the agreement in 2018 during the first Trump administration, Iran resumed enrichment activities at the site.

Source: TOI