Speaking to reporters on an unusual late night on Friday, Lt Gen Douglas Sims, the Pentagon’s director of operations, said the Biden administration was “pretty confident” about the outcome of the mission in deterring future attacks on US personnel.
“The initial indications were that we hit exactly what we meant to hit,” he said.
John Kirby, the White House’s national security spokesman, said: “We do not know at this time if or how many militants may have been killed or wounded. All US aircraft are now out of harm’s way.”
The US bombers returned to base at the end of a 44-hour, 15,000-mile round trip – the longest bombing raid and most complex aerial assault carried out by the US since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The Pentagon has now begun a full battle damage assessment that will estimate the impact of the strikes on Iranian forces and those of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI), an umbrella grouping of Tehran-backed militants.
Mr Kirby said that the mission had two primary objectives. The first was to send a message to Iran that the militants war of attrition against US bases in the region with suicide drones and missiles would not be tolerated by Washington.
“The signal is, to the IRGC and to these groups: the attacks have got to stop,” he said.
The second objective is to erode the militants’ ability to launch further assaults by destroying the weapons they use.
The White House has been clear for weeks that the US believes Iran is providing weapons and funding for strikes on US forces. IRGC troops are operating alongside the IRI, running military bases and supply lines into Iraq and Syria.
Friday’s bombing run hit a diverse range of targets, including command-and-control centres, intelligence headquarters, storage sites for rockets, missiles and drones, and ammunition supply chain facilities.
Some of those targets were used by the IRGC’s Quds Force – the armed forces’ foreign espionage and paramilitary arm – and some by the IRI groups it operates with, according to the US Centcom.
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
