The United States detonated strategic bombers over the Gulf on Wednesday for the second time this month, in which Washington says a demonstration of force means stopping Iran from being attacking American targets or allies in the Middle East.
One senior U.S. military official said the flight with two B-52 bombers from the Air Force was in response to indications that Iran might be planning attacks against targets of U.S. allies in nearby Iraq or elsewhere in the region in the coming days, even as President Joe Biden is preparing to take office.
The officer was not authorized to publicly consider internal assessments based on sensitive information and spoke to the Associated Press on an anonymous basis.
B-52 bombing mission, round trip from North Dakota Air Force base, growing concern in Washington, in the final weeks of President Donald Trump’s administration, that Iran will order more military retaliation for the US killed January 3 last year. Iranian military commander-in-chief General Qassem Soleimani.
Iran’s first response, five days after a deadly U.S. drone strike, was a ballistic missile attack on an Iraqi military base that caused concussion injuries to about 100 American soldiers.
Adding to the tension was last week’s rocket attack on the U.S. Ambassador’s fertilizer in Baghdad by Iranian-backed Shia armed groups. No one was killed, but Trump later tweeted that Iran had been betrayed.
“Some friendly health advice to Iran: If one American is killed, I will be responsible for Iran. Think about it, ”Trump wrote on December 23rd.
Announcing Wednesday’s bomb flight, the head of the U.S. Supreme Command said it was a defensive move.
“The United States continues to use ready-to-fight capabilities to fight within the remit of the U.S. Prime Order to prevent any potential hostility, and to make it clear that we ready and able to respond to any attack targeting Americans or our partners, “said General Frank Mackenzie, commander of the Central Command. “We will not seek conflict, but no one should underestimate our ability to defend our forces or engage in force in response to any attack.”
He did not mention Iran by name.
Prior to the announcement, a U.S. military chief who spoke on condition of anonymity said U.S. intelligence had found recent signs of “relatively substantial threats” from Iran, which included planning for possible rocket attacks against U.S. interests in Iraq in connection with the anniversary of Soleimani’s assassination.
The U.S. is currently reducing its military presence in Iraq from 3,000 to about 2,500. Trump ordered that the reduction be accomplished by Jan. 15; Officials say it is likely to be reached as early as next week.
The United States has also raised signs that Iran may be considering or planning “more complex” and broader attacks against American targets or interests in the Middle East, a senior U.S. military official said. adding that it represented the most worrying signs from the days immediately following Soleimani’s assassination.
The signal officer noted that advanced weapons have been leaking from Iran into Iraq recently and that Shia militia leaders in Iraq may have met with officers of the Quds force in Iran, which formerly led by Soleimani.
A U.S. official said Iran may be on the lookout for economic targets, noting a September 2019 missile and drone attack on Saudi oil processing facilities. Iran denied any involvement but was blamed by Washington for the attack.
In the past few weeks the U.S. military has taken a number of steps to plan to stop Iran, publicly asserting that it is not planning, and has not been asked, an unprepared action. to take against Iran.
Last week, a U.S. Navy-guided missile submarine made an unusual move of the Hormuz Strait, the strategic waterway between Iran and the Arabian peninsula.
Earlier in December, a pair of B-52 bombers flew from the Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana in what the military calls a “presence” mission across the Gulf – a show of U.S. force and a sign of U.S. commitment to the area, but not an attack mission. That flight was repeated this week, with two B-52s flying non-stop from the Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota and heading home Wednesday after traveling over the west coast. ‘Chamais.
Conflict with Iran escalated when Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed in November, an Iranian scientist named by the West as director of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear weapons program. Iran has blamed Israel for the killings, but U.S. officials are concerned that any Iranian retaliation could hit American interests.