The US has positioned six of its stealthy B-2 bombers — roughly 30% of its entire fleet — on a tiny island off India’s coast ahead of a Saturday meeting between Washington and Tehran’s leaders as tensions flare over Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.
Private satellite imagery taken by Planet Labs last week showed at least six of the bombers on Diego Garcia, home to a joint US-British air base about 2,400 miles from Iran’s southern coast. It is believed to be one of the largest contingents of the bombers to deploy in recent history.
The bombers are the only US aircraft capable of carrying GBU-57 “bunker busters” — the largest non-nuclear American bomb, which is designed to strike underground targets. Each B-2 can carry two of the massive explosives, which cost about $20 million each
The show of force — the specifics of which the Pentagon has not confirmed — comes as the US military amps up its pressure on Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen who threaten both Israel and global shipping in the Red Sea. It also comes days ahead of the US sending a delegation for
The US has used bunker busters in the past to target the Houthis’ underground weapons storage, and has been striking targets inside Yemen at a near-daily pace for weeks.
“It’s two birds, one stone,” Brian Carter of the American Enterprise Institute’s Critical Threats Project told The Post of the deployment. “(The US has) been using them against the Houthis to hit underground infrastructure, and then when Iran sees B-2s show up in the region, that’s pretty concerning for them.”
Over the weekend, there were “at least 26 airstrikes targeting Houthi infrastructure and leadership in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen,” the Institute for the Study of War said in its latest update Monday.
Meanwhile, Trump announced Monday that top negotiators from the US would meet with Iranian officials to discuss a nuclear deal in direct talks set for Saturday, adding that he hoped they could come to an agreement to avoid “the obvious” military alternative.
“I think if the talks aren’t successful with Iran, I think Iran is going to be in great danger — and I hate to say ‘in great danger’ — because they can’t have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.
The verbal threat echoed a letter the president sent last month to Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, calling on him to negotiate with the US or face potential military action.The bombers are just one piece of an increased US presence in the Middle East.
Last week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered “the deployment of additional squadrons and other air assets that will further reinforce our defensive air-support capabilities,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said April 1.
“The United States and its partners remain committed to regional security in the CENTCOM (area of operations) and are prepared to respond to any state or non-state actor seeking to broaden or escalate conflict in the region,” Parnell added.
“Secretary Hegseth continues to make clear that, should Iran or its proxies threaten American personnel and interests in the region, the United States will take decisive action to defend our people.
https://nypost.com/2025/04/08/world-news/us-deploys-six-b-2-bombers-to-indian-ocean-base-ahead-of-iran-talks/
