The Pentagon on Thursday released dramatic video footage illustrating the devastating impact of 14 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs, each weighing 30,000 pounds, used to target fortified Iranian nuclear facilities buried deep underground.
The New York Post reports the newly released video captures one of the GBU-57 MOP bombs plunging into a target, generating a towering dust cloud moments before a brilliant flash erupts inside a shaft during a test explosion. Pilots who participated in the mission described the detonation as “the brightest explosion” they had ever witnessed, adding, “it literally looked like daylight.”
A GBU-57 series Massive Ordnance Penetrator is seen crashing into a target, unleashing a bright inferno.
Department of Defense
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Caine briefed reporters on the precision and power of the strikes. “Unlike a normal surface bomb, you won’t see an impact crater because they’re designed to deeply bury and then function,” he said during Thursday’s press conference. Caine emphasized the effectiveness of the operation: “All six weapons at each vent at Fordow [uranium enrichment plant] went exactly where they were intended to go.”
The Pentagon also presented alternate angles during the briefing. One slow-motion clip showed a bomb slicing through the arched interior of a second ventilation shaft without detonating. Another video depicted a bomb hitting what Caine referred to as the “mission space.”
“A bomb has three effects that causes damage: blast, fragmentation and overpressure,” he explained. “In this case, the primary kill mechanisms in the mission space was a mix of overpressure and blast.”
A GBU-57 bomb is seen impacting a target.
Department of Defense
The footage was released amid public debate and political controversy surrounding the effectiveness of the strikes. Some media reports, citing initial U.S. intelligence assessments, suggested that the bombings may have only delayed Iran’s nuclear ambitions by several months.
In response to this narrative, the president and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth criticized media outlets such as CNN and The New York Times during a press conference at the NATO summit in the Netherlands on Wednesday. They pushed back on claims that the air campaign had limited impact.
“I just want to thank our pilots. You know, they were maligned and treated very bad, demeaned by fake news CNN, which is back there, believe it or not, wasting time… So they just waste a lot of time, wasting my time. And The New York Times, they put out a story that, ‘well, maybe they were hit, but it wasn’t bad.’ Well, it was so bad that they ended the war. It ended the war!” the president said.
Despite criticism from the press and intelligence community, the president insisted that the bombing campaign had “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. However, his public dismissal of internal intelligence findings and apparent disclosure of Israeli operational details have raised questions about potential breaches of sensitive information.
