US-Iran · 2025 – Present
The verified 2025 strike package centered on B-2 bombers, GBU-57 penetrating bombs, and submarine-launched Tomahawks. The 2026 war added extensive air, missile, drone, naval, and air-defense operations. Performance and interception figures remain claims unless independently verified.
The 30,000-pound conventional penetrating bomb is carried by the B-2. Fourteen were used against Fordow and Natanz during Operation Midnight Hammer.
Significance
Its first operational use demonstrated a purpose-built conventional option against deeply buried facilities, while the full underground effects still required assessment.
Seven B-2s flew from Whiteman Air Force Base with aerial refueling. The Pentagon said the package encountered no Iranian fighter or surface-to-air missile fire.
Significance
The mission demonstrated very-long-range stealth strike capacity.
A guided-missile submarine launched more than two dozen Tomahawks against Isfahan during Operation Midnight Hammer.
Significance
Submarine launch complicated detection and allowed simultaneous attacks across the target set.
Iran used ballistic missiles in retaliation, including the June 2025 strike on Al Udeid and wider attacks during the 2026 war. Missile type, interception, and damage claims vary by incident.
Significance
They provided Iran’s principal means of direct long-range retaliation.
United States, Israeli, and partner systems attempted to detect and intercept Iranian missiles and drones. Public success-rate claims are not treated as independently verified totals.
Significance
The war tested sustained interceptor stocks and multinational warning networks.
How the weapons and tactics of US-Iran changed the nature of warfare.
The United States used fourteen GBU-57 bombs against Fordow and Natanz.
Legacy
The mission supplied the first combat evidence for a weapon developed against deeply buried targets.
B-2s flew from Missouri with aerial refueling while a submarine attacked a separate site.
Legacy
The coordinated package demonstrated global-range conventional strike and deception planning.