This satellite picture by Planet Labs PBC shows Iran's underground nuclear enrichment site at Fordo after a US airstrike targeted the facility, June 22, 2025. (Planet Labs PBC via AP)
US Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says at a Pentagon news conference that the goal of the operation — destroying nuclear sites in Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan — has been achieved.
“Final battle damage will take some time, but initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction,” Caine says.
A Pentagon-provided map of the flight path taken by B-2 stealth bombers indicates that their approach to Iran took them over the Mediterranean and then over Israel, Jordan and Iraq.
It is not immediately clear when those three countries were made aware of the flights. Israel has said the US strikes were carried out in coordination with its military. The US said the strikes did not involve Israeli jets.
The Trump administration says its attack on three Iranian nuclear facilities was not about toppling the country’s government.
“This mission was not and has not been about regime change,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says at the briefing.
The Pentagon released the map to journalists as it gave details of the mission, which it described as causing “extremely severe damage and destruction” to three Iranian nuclear sites.
Reporters take photos of a displayed graphic as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine speak during a news conference at the Pentagon in Washington, June 22, 2025, after the U.S. military struck three sites in Iran, directly joining Israel’s effort to destroy the country’s nuclear program. (AP/Alex Brandon)
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