U.S. BOMBS Test IRAN’s Missile Hideouts

Patriot missile defense system on display outdoors with various missiles in the background

U.S. forces debuted a new generation of bunker-busting bombs against Iranian underground missile sites near the Strait of Hormuz — but whether Iran’s arsenal is truly finished remains an open and critical question.

Story Snapshot

The U.S. military used 5,000-pound GBU-72 Advanced 5K Penetrator bombs in combat for the first time, targeting hardened Iranian coastal missile storage facilities near the Strait of Hormuz.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed U.S. forces have struck over 7,000 targets across Iran and its military infrastructure during the ongoing campaign.
The targeted anti-ship cruise missiles posed a direct threat to international shipping through one of the world’s most critical waterways.
Satellite imagery shows Iranian engineering crews actively clearing debris and working to restore the struck underground facilities, raising questions about lasting damage.

New Weapon, New Strike — GBU-72 Makes Its Combat Debut

U.S. Central Command confirmed that American forces successfully employed multiple 5,000-pound deep penetrator munitions against hardened Iranian missile sites along Iran’s coastline near the Strait of Hormuz. [4] The weapon used — the GBU-72 Advanced 5K Penetrator — made its combat debut in these strikes, designed specifically to punch through concrete and rock barriers protecting underground military facilities. [2] Joint Chiefs Chairman General Dan Caine confirmed at a Pentagon briefing that the strikes targeted underground storage facilities holding coastal defense cruise missiles and other support equipment. [2]

Central Command stated plainly that the Iranian anti-ship cruise missiles stored in these underground sites posed a direct risk to international shipping in the strait. [4] The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most strategically vital chokepoints, through which roughly 20 percent of global oil supplies pass. Neutralizing anti-ship missile batteries capable of threatening that corridor is not a minor tactical achievement — it is a significant blow to Iran’s ability to hold global energy markets hostage.

Scale of the Campaign — 7,000 Targets and Counting

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth put the overall scope of U.S. military action into stark perspective, stating that American forces have struck over 7,000 targets across Iran and its military infrastructure. [2] That figure reflects a sustained, large-scale campaign rather than a single symbolic strike. The operation has also carried a significant price tag, with reported costs reaching approximately $12 billion as of mid-March 2026, a figure that will inevitably invite scrutiny from both supporters and critics of the campaign’s strategic return on investment.

At least six Iranian nuclear sites have been hit in combined U.S. and Israeli strikes, with most confirmed or suspected targets tied to nuclear weapons-related work. [1] The breadth of targets — from coastal missile batteries to nuclear infrastructure — signals a coordinated effort to systematically degrade Iran’s ability to threaten American allies, international shipping lanes, and regional stability. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has been the primary institutional target throughout the campaign. [3]

The Honest Question — How Much Damage Was Actually Done?

The Pentagon did not provide formal battle damage assessments following the underground missile storage strikes, leaving the full extent of destruction unverified. [2] That absence of public assessment creates an information vacuum that Iranian state media and adversarial narratives are rushing to fill. Satellite imagery analyzed after the strikes reportedly shows Iranian engineering teams using bulldozers to clear debris at hit sites, with estimates suggesting rapid operational resumption is possible. [5]

On @CBSNews, @LTGHRMcMaster tells @TheKellyOGrady that Iran's military is heavily degraded and it cannot sustain the volume of the missile-drone strike complex that it did at the beginning of the war.

Iran is simply trying to wait out the US, hoping that America will cave. pic.twitter.com/LcPfbxeRbQ

— Hudson Institute (@HudsonInstitute) May 7, 2026

Iran’s underground “missile cities” — vast tunnel networks embedded inside mountains — were specifically engineered to survive heavy bombardment. [5] Multiple layers of reinforced tunneling, backup systems, and redundant storage allow Iran to absorb strikes on individual facilities without losing its overall launch capability. Critically, Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium remains buried in deep underground nuclear sites that were not targeted in the coastal missile strikes. [6] The honest assessment is this: the GBU-72 strikes inflicted real, meaningful damage on a specific category of anti-ship missile threat near the Strait of Hormuz. But claiming Iran’s entire underground arsenal is finished overstates what the confirmed evidence supports. The campaign has degraded Iranian capabilities — the question of how severely and how permanently remains genuinely open.