The move, advocated by JINSA and approved by the Trump administration in 2021, helped lay the groundwork for a historic joint offense and defense.
The United States’ direct, devastating strikes on Iran’s three core nuclear facilities, including the heavily fortified Fordow enrichment plant, early on June 22 marked a historic turning point in the military campaign to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran.
This unprecedented American military intervention, coordinated with Israel’s ongoing “Operation Rising Lion,” was made possible by a quiet but highly significant shift that occurred years earlier: The transfer of Israel from the area of responsibility of the U.S. European Command (EUCOM) to that of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), which is responsible for the Middle East.
The American strikes involved six U.S. Air Force B-2 “Spirit” stealth bombers flying a 37-hour nonstop mission from their base in Missouri to drop 13.5-ton GBU-57 “bunker-buster” bombs on the deeply buried Fordow facility.