US deploys B-2 Spirit stealth bombers with GBU-57 bunker-busters against Fordow underground facility — biggest escalation yet

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The United States deployed B-2 Spirit stealth bombers armed with GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOP) — the largest bunker-busting bombs in the US arsenal at 30,000 lbs — to strike Iran's deeply buried Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant, located 80 meters underground near Qom. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed the operation, announcing it was "the highest volume of strikes America has put over the skies of Iran." The B-2s, flying from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, represented a major US escalation and the first operational use of the B-2 in the campaign. The Fordow facility was specifically chosen because it is buried under a mountain and could not be reached by conventional munitions. CENTCOM released footage showing craters consistent with MOP strikes. Iranian state media acknowledged multiple explosions near Qom but denied the facility was destroyed. International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors had previously been denied access to the site since mid-February.