Tampa was at the heart of a secret bombing campaign that struck three Iranian nuclear facilities early on Saturday morning.
Military officials in McDill Air Force Base, US Central Command and the home of Centcom, Tampa, have directed a precision strike under President Donald Trump’s order to destroy or dismantle Iran’s nuclear program.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegses, along with General Dan Kane, chairman of the Co-Statement, outlined the mission, and was called Operation Midnight Strike on Sunday at a Pentagon press conference.
Kane cited Tampa’s Centcom and his influential commander, General Michael “Eric” Kurira, as the main players in the attack. Centcom is one of the 11 U.S. Department of Defense headquarters and has played a major role in the country’s wars and marquee military operations since 9/11. It has been based in MacDill since it was created in 1983.
Centcom is responsible for military operations in the waterways surrounding the Middle East, Middle East, South Asia and those regions, according to the Department of Defense. Centcom’s responsibility areas include 21 countries, including Iran, Israel, Syria and Afghanistan.
Kurira, a four-star army general, has been commander of Centcom since April 2022. He traveled to Israel in February to discuss how the troops of both countries could work closely to meet with the Israeli Defence Force chiefs and other countries.
In January, he highlighted the importance of reducing the expansion of Iran’s nuclear capabilities when it was already weakened by Israel.
“We now have an unprecedented opportunity to advance our vision of a prosperous, integrated Middle East where US interests advance and Iran’s violent attempts to overturn this peaceful order will be defeated,” Kleela told the senators at a hearing of the U.S. Senate’s Military Service Committee Congress.
Just six months later, Operation Midnight Hammer was released.
The mission included a group of B-2 spirit bombers, a type of stealth bombers taking off from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, and included a surprise decoy element. Some of these bombers flew west into the Pacific Ocean as decoys, while the other seven proceeded east towards Iran with minimal communication, Kane said.
It was “a deception effort known only to a very few planners and key leaders in Washington and Tampa,” he said.
Through the 18-hour flight to Iranian airspace, some re-fuel was needed, Kane said. Due to its small size, the stealth fighter plane requires multiple gases during long missions in the air. They are refilled by large planes carrying the gas tanks of giant gas tanks. One type of this plane, the KC-135 Stratotanker, is based in MacDill.
The Times asked Centcom whether any of the Tampa-based refueling machines were involved in the attack. Officials did not respond immediately.
In addition to airborne operations, submarines under the Centcom command launched 20 Tomahawk land cruise missiles against one of Iran’s nuclear presences, Kane said, and was last launched to maintain the surprise element.
Kurilla is already taking precautions to keep the US troops in safe areas of Iran, Caine said.
Well before the strike, Kurilla said, “increasing forced protection measures, especially in Iraq, Syria and the Gulf regions.” “Our forces are on high alert and are fully featured in response to Iran’s retaliation or proxy attacks.”
At a press conference in Istanbul on Sunday, Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Aragchi said Iran “denounces the US attack on the strongest conditions.” He said it violated international laws that the United States violated, and that Iran has reserved “all options to act in self-defense.”
