The U.S. is amassing nuclear-capable stealth bombers on a tiny British territory in the middle of the Indian Ocean just days after President Donald Trump threatened to bomb Iran.
According to satellite images taken by Planet Labs and verified by the Associated Press on Wednesday, at least six B-2 Spirit bombers were spotted on the runway at Camp Thunder Bay in Diego Garcia, the largest island of the Chagos Archipelago.
The photographs surfaced just days after Trump told NBC News Sunday that Iran would see “bombing the likes of which they have never seen before” if Tehran did not reach an agreement with Washington over its nuclear program.
A day later, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the U.S. would receive a “strong reciprocal blow” if threats were followed through.
A U.S. official told Axios last week that the Pentagon’s decision to reinforce U.S. military capability in the Middle East with more warplanes was “not disconnected” from Trump’s two-month nuclear deal deadline to Iran.
A senior Iranian official told The Daily Telegraph Monday that “top commanders are being urged to launch preemptive strikes on the island (Diego Garcia) and its base if Trump’s threats have become more serious.”
The Pentagon’s unprecedented stealth bomber deployment also comes amidst an intense two-week airstrike campaign targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that there have been about 200 U.S. airstrikes against the terrorist group since March 15.
The joint U.S.-U.K. strategic military base where the B-2s are stationed is south of India and within striking distance of both Iran and Yemen.
“Should Iran or its proxies threaten American personnel and interests in the region, the United States will take decisive action to defend our people,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement without explicitly mentioning the B-2s.
The U.S. Air Force has 19 long-range strategic bombers in its arsenal, meaning that about a third of its fleet has been deployed to the Chagos Islands base.
The B-2 bombers can carry huge GBU-57 bunker-buster bombs that would be a key element in any possible military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities, which are largely underground in hardened bunkers.
The warplane’s stealth characteristics give it the unique ability to penetrate an enemy’s most sophisticated defenses. Its unrefueled range is approximately 6,000 nautical miles, and its ceiling is about 50,000ft.
On Sunday, Planet Labs images showed four B-2s and KC-135 tanker six support aircraft on the tarmac at Camp Thunder Bay on Diego Garcia.
A spokesperson for Air Force Global Strike Command confirmed that there are B-2s at Diego Garcia earlier this week.
“Their mission is to deter, detect, and, if necessary, defeat strategic attacks against the United States and its allies,” they told Business Insider.
