Iran’s Secret Missile Sites BOMBED

Jet fighter flying through clear blue sky.

The U.S. military debuted its most powerful bunker-busting bomb in combat against Iranian underground missile sites near the Strait of Hormuz — a significant strike, but questions remain about how much of Iran’s arsenal was truly destroyed.

Story Snapshot

U.S. forces dropped 5,000-pound GBU-72 Advanced 5K Penetrator weapons on hardened Iranian underground missile storage facilities near the Strait of Hormuz in a combat debut for the weapon.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed U.S. forces have struck over 7,000 targets across Iran and its military infrastructure since operations began.
The targeted sites stored anti-ship cruise missiles that posed a direct threat to international shipping through the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz.
Satellite imagery shows Iranian engineering crews actively clearing debris at struck sites, raising questions about how permanently the facilities were disabled.

New Weapon Makes Its Combat Debut

The GBU-72 Advanced 5K Penetrator made its first-ever combat appearance in strikes against Iranian coastal missile sites. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed on social media that “U.S. forces successfully employed multiple 5,000-pound deep penetrator munitions on hardened Iranian missile sites along Iran’s coastline near the Strait of Hormuz.” [4] The weapon was specifically engineered to punch through reinforced concrete and rock barriers protecting deeply buried military facilities — exactly the kind of infrastructure Iran has spent years constructing.

Joint Chiefs Chairman General Dan Caine described the strikes at a Pentagon briefing, stating that “the U.S. military dropped 5,000-pound penetrator weapons into underground storage facilities storing coastal defense cruise missiles and other support equipment.” [2] CENTCOM further explained that the Iranian anti-ship cruise missiles stored in these sites “posed a risk to international shipping in the strait,” making their elimination a direct protection of global commerce and American naval assets in the region. [4]

Scale of the Campaign Against Iran

The underground missile strikes are one piece of a far larger military campaign. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed the full scope of U.S. operations, stating: “To date, we’ve struck over 7,000 targets across Iran and its military infrastructure.” [2] That staggering number reflects a sustained, broad-based effort to degrade Iran’s ability to threaten American forces and allies throughout the Middle East. The campaign has also included strikes on at least six Iranian nuclear sites tied to weapons-related work, according to think tank analysis. [1]

The reported cost of the campaign has reached approximately $12 billion as of mid-March 2026. [2] Critics will inevitably raise questions about that price tag, but the strategic stakes — keeping the Strait of Hormuz open for international shipping and neutralizing missiles aimed at U.S. Navy vessels — represent core national security interests that cannot be measured in dollars alone. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy has operated aggressively in the strait, making these coastal missile batteries a genuine and immediate threat.

Iran’s Underground Resilience Complicates the Picture

Despite the confirmed strikes, a clear-eyed assessment requires acknowledging what remains uncertain. The Pentagon did not provide formal battle damage assessments at the briefing, leaving the full extent of destruction unverified. [2] Satellite imagery has reportedly shown Iranian engineering teams using bulldozers to clear debris at struck sites, suggesting at least some facilities could resume limited operations. [5] Iran has spent decades constructing what military analysts call “missile cities” — vast tunnel networks embedded inside mountains designed specifically to survive heavy bombardment.

Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile also remains buried in separate underground nuclear facilities and was not targeted in these particular missile site strikes. [6] The honest takeaway is this: the GBU-72’s combat debut dealt a real and meaningful blow to Iran’s coastal anti-ship missile capability, and striking over 7,000 targets represents serious degradation of Iranian military power. But Iran built its underground infrastructure precisely to absorb punishment and recover. Declaring the entire arsenal permanently finished overstates what the evidence currently supports. What is clear is that the Trump administration is applying sustained, escalating military pressure — and Iran is feeling it.