Newspot Nigeria Global Desk
In the aftermath of “Operation Midnight Hammer,” U.S. officials have declared a resounding success in their overnight bombing campaign on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, but independent analysts are raising red flags: the core of Iran’s nuclear capability might still be intact.
The Pentagon says the strikes — involving seven B-2 bombers armed with 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs, plus cruise missiles from a U.S. submarine — targeted three major Iranian nuclear sites: Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan.
“We obliterated Iran’s nuclear ambitions,” declared U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, praising President Trump’s leadership during a press conference on Sunday.
But according to nuclear proliferation experts Jeffrey Lewis of the Middlebury Institute and David Albright of the Institute for Science and International Security, the U.S. campaign may have missed the most critical piece — Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
“Some really important things haven’t been hit,” said Lewis, pointing to satellite imagery that shows trucks at Fordo and Isfahan sealing off tunnel entrances just before the strikes — a potential sign that Iran preemptively moved its uranium supply out of harm’s way.
Albright agrees: “There’s strong evidence that over 400kg of 60% enriched uranium, enough for about ten nuclear bombs, may have been evacuated.”
Despite visible craters and debris at the bombed sites — especially Fordo, where ventilation systems and centrifuge halls were likely targeted — Iran’s ability to reconstitute its program remains a looming concern.
Albright warns that Iran still holds thousands of centrifuges not yet installed, and if the enriched uranium was moved to a covert site, Iran could still achieve weapons-grade enrichment (90%) in a short period.
Experts unanimously say that no airstrike can permanently dismantle a nuclear program. Only renewed international inspections, diplomatic agreements, and transparency from Iran’s regime can provide a lasting solution.
As Lewis puts it: “Even the most brilliant bombing campaign won’t get us where we want to be.”
This story is developing amid global reactions — from cautious praise to alarm — as fears of regional escalation mount.
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