Seven B-2 bombers that took off from an air base in Missouri early Saturday morning returned home just before noon on Sunday after conducting a bombing run over Iranian nuclear facilities.

The B-2 pilots touched back down at Whiteman Air Force Base after a roughly 36-hour flight to Iran and back. The mission, dubbed Operation Midnight Hammer, involved decoys and multiple in-flight refuelings for the strike team to get to Iran and back, Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine explained at a Sunday press conference.

NEW VIDEO: B-2 bombers land back at Whiteman Air Force Base today in Knob Noster, Missouri, after about a 36-hour flight to strike targets in Iran.

Seven B-2s took off from Whiteman just after 12 a.m. on Saturday. The first bombers back landed just before 12 p.m. Sunday. pic.twitter.com/g7IbwWD6NH

— Matt Evans (@MattEvansKMBC) June 22, 2025

As the bombers crossed the Atlantic and resumed flight over land, a team of fighters joined to cover the bombers on their entry into Iranian airspace.

“As the Operation Midnight Hammer strike package entered Iranian airspace, the U.S. employed several deception tactics, including decoys, as the 4th and 5th generation aircraft pushed out in front of the strike package at high altitude and high speed, sweeping in front of the package for enemy fighters and surface to air missile threats,” said Caine.

The bomber team appears to have entered Iranian airspace and reached their targets without alerting Iran’s military.

“As the strike package approached Fordo and Natanz, the US protection package employed high-speed suppression weapons to ensure safe passage of the strike package with fighter assets employing preemptive suppressing fires against any potential Iranian surface to air threats,” Caine continued. “We are currently unaware of any shots fired at the US strike package on the way in.”

The bomber struck targets at Fordo and Natanz beginning around 6:40 p.m. ET. Tomahawk missiles fired from a United States submarines hit Isfahan moments later. The entire attack took place within a 25-minute window between 6:40 p.m. and 7:05 p.m. ET.

“Following weapons release, the midnight hammer strike package exited Iranian airspace, and the package began its return home. We are unaware of any shots fired at the package on the way out. Iran’s fighters did not fly, and it appears that Iran’s surface-to-air missile systems did not see us. Throughout the mission, we retained the element of surprise,” Caine said.

Chairman Caine just laid out the PERFECT execution of Operation MIDNIGHT HAMMER. pic.twitter.com/11NpibQhbi

— DOD Rapid Response (@DODResponse) June 22, 2025

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth praised the strike team and others involved in the operation after its success.

“I want to recognize pilots who flew those bombers; who flew those fighters; who flew those refuelers: Warriors. I want to recognize the sailors, on those destroyers, in those subs. on those carriers: Warriors. All of them. I want to recognize our soldiers doing air defense, base defense, QRF: Warriors. All of them,” Hegseth said in a statement after the strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. “Every American involved in this operation performed flawlessly.”

President Donald Trump declared on Sunday that the “Make America Great Again” movement should cut any ties with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) on Sunday after the congressman decried this weekend’s U.S. military strikes on nuclear facilities in Iran and revealed that he will hit the campaign trail next year to support a primary challenger.

The comments mark an escalation in the intra-party war of words after Trump called Massie a “grandstander” earlier this year for opposing the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” making its way through Congress and urged voters to kick the Kentucky Republican out from his House seat.

“Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky is not MAGA, even though he likes to say he is. Actually, MAGA doesn’t want him, doesn’t know him, and doesn’t respect him. He is a negative force who almost always Votes ‘NO,’ no matter how good something may be,” Trump said in a Truth Social post. “He’s a simple minded ‘grandstander’ who thinks it’s good politics for Iran to have the highest level Nuclear weapon, while at the same time yelling ‘DEATH TO AMERICA’ at every chance they get.”

Massie claims the attack on Iran was “unconstitutional” because Congress did not authorize military force ahead of time. Prior to the strikes, the Kentucky Republican put forward a war powers resolution in the House that elicited the support of many Democrats, including leftist “Squad” members.

“When two countries are bombing each other daily in a hot war, and a third country joins the bombing, that’s an act of war,” Massie said on X, alluding to the conflict between Israel and Iran. “I’m amazed at the mental gymnastics being undertaken by neocons in DC (and their social media bots) to say we aren’t at war… so they can make war.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) defended Trump’s decision to launch an operation to destroy three facilities in Iran this weekend in a bid to stop that country from being able to create nuclear weapons.

“The President made the right call, and did what he needed to do. Leaders in Congress were aware of the urgency of this situation and the Commander-in-Chief evaluated that the imminent danger outweighed the time it would take for Congress to act,” Johnson said on X. “The world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, which chants ‘Death to America,’ simply could not be allowed the opportunity to obtain and use nuclear weapons. The President fully respects the Article I power of Congress, and tonight’s necessary, limited, and targeted strike follows the history and tradition of similar military actions under presidents of both parties.”

Massie shot back, asking why Johnson did not call Congress back from “vacation” to vote on military action “if there was a serious threat” to the United States. “I introduced a War Powers Resolution on Tuesday, while Congress was on vacation. We would have had plenty of time to debate and vote on this,” he added.

In his post on Truth Social, Trump compared Massie to Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), another Republican lawmaker who has shown a willingness to break with the “MAGA” line.

“Massie is weak, ineffective, and votes ‘NO’ on virtually everything put before him (Rand Paul, Jr.), no matter how good something may be,” Trump said. “He is disrespectful to our great military, and all that they stand for, not even acknowledging their brilliance and bravery in yesterday’s attack, which was a total and complete WIN. Massie should drop his fake act and start putting America First, but he doesn’t know how to get there — he doesn’t have a clue!”

After noting how Massie will “undoubtedly” again vote against the “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” which will likely need to be approved by the House a second time with the changes being implemented by the Senate, Trump pledged to help defeat the congressman in next year’s midterm elections.

“MAGA should drop this pathetic LOSER, Tom Massie, like the plague!” Trump said. “The good news is that we will have a wonderful American Patriot running against him in the Republican Primary, and I’ll be out in Kentucky campaigning really hard. MAGA is not about lazy, grandstanding, nonproductive politicians, of which Thomas Massie is definitely one. Thank you to our incredible military for the AMAZING job they did last night. It was really SPECIAL!!! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.”

Axios reported later on Sunday that Trump’s team was launching a super PAC focused on getting Massie defeated in the May 2026 primary. The news outlet said the group is called Kentucky MAGA and led by the President’s senior political advisers Tony Fabrizio and Chris LaCivita.

In a post on X, Massie acknowledged Trump’s pledge to back a primary challenger and asked people to support his re-election campaign.