L609-EEUU BOMBARDEROS B2 ATERRIZANDO

STORY: U.S. B-2 stealth bombers have returned to American soil after carrying out a long-range strike on Iran’s key nuclear facilities as part of "Operation Midnight Hammer.” The aircrafts landed near Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri.

Seven B-2 bombers took off from the United States and flew an 18-hour mission to Iran, where they dropped 14 bunker-buster bombs on underground nuclear sites, including Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.

The precision strike, kept secret until it was underway, was coordinated by U.S. Central Command and involved only a small circle of senior defense and administration officials.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned Iran against following through with past threats of retaliation against the United States and said U.S. forces would defend themselves.

"This mission was not and has not been about regime change," Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon.

With the damage visible from space after 30,000-pound U.S. bunker-buster bombs crashed into the mountain above Iran's Fordow nuclear site, experts and officials are closely watching how far the strikes might have set back Iran's nuclear ambitions.

The operation pushes the Middle East to the brink of a major new conflagration in a region already aflame for more than 20 months with wars in Gaza and Lebanon and a toppled dictator in Syria.