Pentagon: 'Midnight Hammer' Operation Did 'Severe Damage'

Defense chief Pete Hegseth emphasized Sunday that the US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites were part of a "focused" mission and do not represent the start of an "open-ended" conflict. Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke to reporters at a Pentagon news conference. Highlights:

• "This mission was not, has not been about regime change," Hegseth said, reports the Washington Post. "The president authorized a precision operation to neutralize the threats to our national interest posed by the Iranian nuclear program."

• Caine said all three sites hit suffered "severe damage and destruction," but he said it was too early to assess whether Iran retained nuclear capability, per the New York Times. On Saturday night, Trump said all three sites had been "obliterated," but Caine didn't go that far.
• The Pentagon called the mission "Midnight Hammer," which included seven B-2 bombers that flew from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, said Caine. The bombers, flanked by fighter jets, dropped more than a dozen 30,000-pound bombs on Iran about 2am local time, per the AP. Most of these "bunker busters" were dropped on the Fordo nuclear site, which was built inside a mountain.

(More US strikes Iran stories.)