DUBAI, UAE – A pair of B-52 bombers flew over the Middle East on Sunday, the latest such mission in the region to warn Iran amid tensions between Washington and Tehran.
The flight of the two heavy bombers occurred when a Beirut-based pro-Iran satellite channel transmitted images of Iranian military drones from an Israeli ship hit by a mysterious explosion just days earlier in the Middle East. . While the channel meant Iran was not involved, Israel has blamed Tehran for what it described as an attack on the ship.
The U.S. military headquarters said the two B-52s flew over the region accompanied by military aircraft from countries such as Israel, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. It marked the fourth deployment of such bombers in the Middle East this year and the second led by President Joe Biden.
Flight tracking data showed that the two B-52s departed from North Dakota Minot Air Force Base, which Central Command did not mention in its flight statement, although authorities released more late footage of the flight crew preparing their departure there.
The military did not directly mention Iran in its statement, saying the escape was to “deter aggression and reassure partners and allies of the U.S. military’s commitment to security in the region.” .
However, these flights had become commonplace in the last months of the administration of former President Donald Trump. Trump’s 2018 decision to unilaterally withdraw from Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers sparked a series of incidents that escalated in the region.
Biden has expressed a desire to return to the agreement if Iran meets the limits of the agreement on its nuclear program. However, tensions remain high after militias in Iraq, likely backed by Iran, continue to target US interests.
Last month, Biden launched an airstrike on the border into Syria in retaliation, joining all of US President Ronald Reagan onwards who has ordered a bombing of Middle Eastern countries.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, the Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen Canal broadcast images of the Helios Ray, a Bahamas-flagged, rolling cargo ship hit by explosions on February 26 in the Gulf of Oman.
The grainy images included blurred areas in the video, probable coordinates, and other information shown by the Iranian military drone. The images at one point show what looked like a hole in the side of the boat.
Al-Mayadeen did not say when the images were fired nor did he explain the circumstance why the Iranian drone was following the ship. The 5th U.S. Navy fleet based in Bahrain, which patrols the Middle East and often has tense encounters with Iran, declined to comment on the images.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blamed Iran for the blasts, which Tehran has denied. However, the Gulf of Oman saw a series of similar attacks in 2019 that the U.S. Navy blamed on Iran.