American B-2 Stealth Bombers Strike Iran’s Best Fortified Nuclear Site as U.S. Fully Joins the War (Updated)

In the late hours of June 21 the New York Tomes reported the at “a number of American B-2 bombers” carrying “30,000-pound ‘bunker-buster’ munitions” were used to strike the Iranian Fordo nuclear site. This closely coincided with President Donald Trump’s announcement of attacks on the Middle Eastern country. The development follows the reported forward deployment of B-2 bombers to Guam and Diego Garcia, allowing them to generate sorties against Iranian targets more rapidly. The B-2’s 18,000 kilogram&nbsp;<a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/dangerous-bomb-first-combat-gbu57">GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator&nbsp;</a>bomb, of which each can carry two, is considered the only non-nuclear asset capable of potentially penetrating Iran’s most heavily fortified facilities such as the Fordow enrichment site. The&nbsp;<a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/iran-nkorean-fortress-serious-complications-israel-commando">Fordow facility&nbsp;</a>is a was constructed an estimated 80 meters underground, with its hardening overseen by specialists from North Korea in the 2000s.Update: Six&nbsp;GBU-57 bombs were reportedly used to strike the Fordow facility, while simultaneous attacks using 30 Tomahawk cruise missiles were launched against the Natanz and Isfahan nuclear facilities that the Israeli Air Force had previously targeted. President Trump has claimed that the Fordow facility was completely destroyed, while Iranian state media has stated that the attack only succeeded in damaging two tunnels around the facility. The very high level of fortifications has long left the U.S. Air Force’s ability to target it using non-nuclear ordinance in question.&nbsp;Update: The B-2s are reported not to have flown from Diego Garcia or Guam, but directly from Whiteman Air Force Base on a 27 hour sortie. Six B-2s dropped 12 GBU-57 bombs on the Fordow facility. Two more GBU-57 bombs were dropped on the Natanz facility, possibly by a single bomber. Thirty submarine-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles were also launched against Natanz. Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi condemned the attacks as a violation of multiple international treaties, stating that&nbsp;“Iran reserves all options to defend its sovereignty, interests, and people.” Iranian retaliatory strikes against American military facilities are widely speculated. President Donald Trump has threatened a far more extensive bombing campaign should Iran retaliate.&nbsp;