The United States (US) has sent at least six B-2 bombers – 30 percent of the US Air Force’s stealth bomber fleet – to the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia, in what analysts have called a message to Iran as tensions once again flare in the Middle East.
The deployment comes as US President Donald Trump and his defense chief Pete Hegseth warn of further action against Iran and its proxies, while US jets continue to attack the Tehran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, CNN reported.
Images taken by private satellite imaging company Planet Labs on Tuesday show the six US bombers on the tarmac on the island, as well as shelters that could possibly conceal others. Tankers and cargo aircraft are also at the island airbase, a joint US-British base which is 3,900 kilometers (2,400 miles) from Iran’s southern coast.
Planet Labs images from Sunday show four B-2s and six support aircraft on the Diego Garcia tarmac.
Without mentioning the B-2s directly, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell confirmed that the US military is sending additional aircraft and “other air assets” to the region to improve America’s defensive posture in the region.
“The US and its partners remain committed to regional security … and are prepared to respond to any state or non-state actor seeking to broaden or escalate conflict in the region,” Parnell said.
Leighton, the CNN military analyst, said the B-2 can carry the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, “a 30,000-pound bomb that is designed to destroy what we would call hardened and deeply buried targets.”
“Such targets would potentially include Iranian nuclear and weapons storage facilities,” the former US Air Force officer added.
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