Overview

• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Dan Caine held a Pentagon briefing to defend Operation Midnight Hammer and lambaste media coverage of a leaked DIA assessment.
• Hegseth asserted that seven B-2 bombers, F-35 and F-22 stealth fighters and over 125 support aircraft delivered massive GBU-57 bunker-busters and Tomahawk missiles on Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan.
• The Pentagon refuted a preliminary Defense Intelligence Agency report suggesting the strikes set back Iran’s nuclear program by mere months, launching a leak investigation to safeguard classified assessments.
• Both Hegseth and President Trump maintained that Iran did not relocate enriched uranium stockpiles ahead of the strike, despite satellite imagery indicating possible pre-strike activity at Fordow.
• Senate Republicans including Sens. Kevin Cramer and Roger Wicker voiced confidence in the White House’s damage claims and requested detailed briefings on the operation’s full impact.