Al-Udeid Air Base, QATAR – The Pentagon on Tuesday sent a B-52 bomber to the Persian Gulf region, the sixth such departure since last fall, as a sign of deterrence to Iran.
The B-52H Stratofortress, a long-range heavy bomber, flew Tuesday from Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana and was expected to make a continuous flight through Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the Saudi east coast near the Emirates. United Arabs and Qatar before returning to the United States, said a senior military official.
“Our intention is to maintain this enduring defensive stance, deter any aggression in the region, promote regional security and secure our allies,” the senior military official said.
The United States has been on guard for the past two months and has expressed concern about the threat posed by Iran, especially before the January 20 presidential inauguration, several officials have said.
U.S. officials have blamed Iran-backed militias for repeated rocket attacks on U.S. facilities in Iraq last year, such as last month that caused minor damage to the U.S. military. embassy in the fortified Green Zone of Baghdad. Washington has condemned the regular cross-border missile and drone attacks launched by Houthi rebels lined up in Iran in Yemen against civilian targets in Saudi Arabia.
The United States maintained an aircraft carrier in the region, maintained other military capabilities, and military commanders were on high alert, officials said. This stemmed from the consensus of intelligence analysts who intercepted messages indicating Tehran or its representatives in the region planned to avenge the death of Major General Qassem Soleimani, the elite leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard corps. of Iran, which was killed by an American drone. strikes in Iraq in January 2020.
Officials also feared Tehran would try to take advantage of the government’s chaotic transition to Washington, possibly by attacking allies or attacking American troops in Iraq.
No attack on U.S. assets has taken place and Iran’s immediate threat has eased somewhat, senior military officials said, but the Pentagon remains vigilant.
On Saturday, the Saudi capital, Riyadh, was attacked with armed drones or missiles for the first time in seven months. The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said it had intercepted the projectiles, but two people familiar with the matter said a major royal complex had suffered minor damage.
Although the Biden administration has promised to re-evaluate the U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia and end its support for Riyadh’s war effort in Yemen, Washington quickly condemned the attack and reiterated the his commitment to the defense of the kingdom.
The coalition blamed the attack on the Houthis, who denied responsibility, and the US also said it was to blame. A previously unknown group, called the “True Promise Brigades”, which intends to establish itself in Iraq, distributed a statement to Telegram stating that it had gone to Yamama Palace and other places in Riyadh in retaliation for alleged Saudi support ‘Islamic state.
Regardless of who was behind the attack, the incident is a sign that despite several years of maximum pressure from the Trump administration against Iran, Tehran has not significantly withdrawn its support for allied militias from the East. Medium.
Houthis rebels, as well as a host of Iran-backed Iraqi militias – which the United States accuses Iran of supporting with weapons, money and training – have continued to occasionally threaten and attack the interests of Washington and its allies.
The recent attack on Riyadh is probably an attempt by Iran to see how Mr Biden – who has said he would take a more conciliatory approach to Tehran than Mr Trump – in his early days in office responds to threats against the Allies. from the U.S. to the Gulf, said Phillip Smyth, an expert on Iran-backed militias, at the Washington Institute for Middle East Policy.
Riyadh residents reported on Tuesday what appeared to be a second attack and a defensive response from a Patriot surface-to-air interceptor missile system within the capital’s diplomatic district, which is adjacent to Yamama Palace. No further details of the incident are known yet, with no public comment from the Saudi coalition or the Houthis more than 24 hours later.
U.S. military officials declined to comment on Tuesday’s incident.
B-52 flights have become a common practice in the region. The flight was the sixth such maneuver since November – and the third this month – as more are scheduled for this spring, military officials said. Tuesday’s flight was scheduled weeks ago and was not sparked by any particular event, officials said.
The senior official said these flights are intended to deter Iran and reassure allies in the region, thus maintaining security while the Biden administration decides a new policy for the country, the official said.
President Joe Biden has said he plans for the U.S. to re-enter the Iranian nuclear deal he helped establish under the Obama administration in 2015. Gerald F. Seib of the WSJ explains why doing so will not be so simple as it sounds. Photo: Abedin Taherkenareh / Shutterstock (originally published on November 16, 2020)
President Biden has expressed his willingness to return to the 2015 nuclear deal from which President Trump withdrew the U.S. in May 2018. Beyond that, the Biden White House has not made public any other plans on Iran.
“We know that U.S. policy is evolving with respect to Iran right now and that the new administration will make some decisions over the next moment, and I have no particular vision on what those decisions will be,” the senior official said. . “But if we continue to deter Iranian aggression. It will give policymakers more decision-making space as they establish policy.”
The B-52, dating from the first Cold War, is a long-range heavy bomber that the U.S. military uses for various missions. It can fly at subsonic speeds at altitudes of up to 50,000 feet, travel 8,800 miles without refueling, and carry different types of precision-guided artillery, according to the military.
The B-52 flew as part of a bomber task force, accompanied by F-15 and F-16 jet fighters and KC-10 and KC-135 tanks. Some of the planes were flown by Allied crews, including from Jordan, officials said.
—Sune Engel Rasmussen contributed to this article.
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