US hails 'final blow' to Iran's nuclear programme and warns retaliation will be met with 'far greater force'
22 June 2025, 13:19 | Updated: 22 June 2025, 14:15
"Iran's nuclear ambitions have been obliterated," the US's Defense Secretary has said as he warned any retaliation against America would be met with far greater force than that seen on Saturday night.
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Pete Hegseth opened the news briefing by hailing the "bold" and "brilliant" attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities overnight, which he said were conducted to "destroy or severely degrade Iran's nuclear programme".
"It was an incredible and overwhelming success...We devastated the Iranian nuclear programme", adding that the US operation was the "final blow".
"When this president speaks, the world should listen. And the US military - we can back it up. The most powerful military the world has ever known - no other country on planet earth could have conducted the operation that the chairman is going to outline this morning," he added.
He said that any retaliation by Iran against the USA will be met with "force far greater than what was witnessed tonight".
Read more: LIVE: Starmer warns of 'risk beyond the region' after US 'obliterates' Iran's nuclear sites
The operation, labelled Operation Midnight Hammer, saw a "precision strike in the middle of the night against three nuclear facilities in Iran".
He stressed that the "mission was not and has not been about regime change", adding that the "president authorised a precision operation to neutralise the threats to our national interests posed by the Iranian nuclear programme, and the collective self-defence of our troops and our ally, Israel."
Joint-chief of staff Dan Caine, the most senior US military official, also revealed details about the operation.
"At approximately 6:40pm EST, the lead B-2 dropped two GBU 57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator weapons on the first of several Aim points at Fordo.
"As the president stated last night, the remaining bombers then hit their targets.
"All three Iranian nuclear infrastructure targets were struck between 6:40 p.m. and 700 and 5 p.m. Eastern Time."More than 75 weapons were used in total, including 14 30,000lbs bunker buster bombs."
He said it was "planned and executed across multiple domains and theatres with coordination that reflects our ability to project power globally with speed and precision at the time and place of our nation's choosing."
The initial damage assessments indicate all three nuclear sites suffered "extremely severe damage and destruction", Mr Caine added.
It comes after Trump hailed the operation as a "spectacular military success".
He called on Iran to bring swift peace with the US, or face more strikes dealt with “speed” and “precision”. "This cannot continue. There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran, far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days," he said.
"Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated," Trump said. "Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier."
"Remember, there are many targets left," Trump said.
This is a breaking story. More to follow.