The decoy the US used before bombing Iran

Before launching its attack on Iran, U.S. forces carried out a decoy maneuver, according to Reuters. Specifically, a group of B-2 bombers took off from a base in Missouri and appeared to be heading toward the Pacific island of Guam. It looked like a routine positioning move ahead of a potential strike on Iran — but it wasn’t. It was a deliberate distraction.

The group of seven B-2 bombers flew undetected for 18 hours, minimizing communications and refueling mid-flight, according to U.S. military sources.

As the bombers approached Iranian airspace, a U.S. submarine launched more than two dozen Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles. Simultaneously, a group of U.S. fighter jets flew as decoys to neutralize any Iranian aircraft or missile defenses.

The B-2 bombers later joined a larger offensive that involved more than 125 U.S. military aircraft, according to the Pentagon. The bombers dropped 14 GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators — bunker-busting bombs weighing 30,000 pounds each.

“We maintained the element of surprise”

Thanks to this strategy, the operation was carried out successfully, with no aircraft lost to Iranian defenses, which failed to detect the threat posed by the mission, dubbed Operation Midnight Hammer in the United States.

Dan Caine, U.S. Chief of Staff, called the operation a success: “Iranian fighters never took off, and it appears their surface-to-air missile systems didn’t detect us during the mission. We maintained the element of surprise.”

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