U.S. pilots who carried out the mission to bomb key nuclear sites in Iran were invited to mark the Fourth of July at the White House on Friday, multiple news outlets reported.
Pilots flew B-2 Spirit stealth bombers, F-22 Raptor fighter aircraft and F-35 Lightning stealth strike fighters during the June 21 mission, in which 30,000-pound “bunker-buster” bombs were dropped on underground uranium enrichment plants.
Concurrently, a Navy nuclear-powered submarine launched over two dozen Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles into Iran, striking infrastructure sites in Isfahan.
Pentagon officials said the operation involved more than 125 U.S. aircraft, and 14 American B-2 bomber pilots were the centerpiece of the effort.
In a Fox News interview Sunday with Maria Bartiromo, President Donald Trump indicated he wanted to invite the B-2 pilots who flew the mission to the White House.
“Yes, they’re going to come to the White House. … These people flew 36 hours in a small space, a big plane, but a small space. It was mostly occupied by bombs. And they flew so brilliantly,” Trump said.
In a statement to Military Times, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Air Force would conduct a flyover during the Fourth of July celebration Friday that would include “state-of-the-art F-22s, B-2s, and F-35s — the same air capabilities used for the decisive and successful strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities.”
Trump heralded the mission in Iran, titled Operation Midnight Hammer, as a success, claiming it ”completely and fully obliterated” Iran’s nuclear program. Defense officials have echoed those sentiments, even after an initial assessment from the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency found Tehran’s program had only been set back months.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said Wednesday the nuclear program had been set back by more than a year, The Associated Press reported.
“We’re thinking probably closer to two years,” Parnell told reporters at his second briefing since Trump’s latest term began. “We believe Iran’s nuclear capability has been severely degraded.”
Nikki Wentling is a senior editor at Military Times. She’s reported on veterans and military communities for nearly a decade and has also covered technology, politics, health care and crime. Her work has earned multiple honors from the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, the Arkansas Associated Press Managing Editors and others.
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