WASHINGTON – Two American B-52 bombers flew on another demonstration mission in the Persian Gulf on Wednesday, a week after President Trump warned Iran that he would blame “if an American is killed” in rocket attacks in Iraq that administration and military officials blamed Tehran.
The 36-hour warplanes’ round-trip mission from Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota was the third time in six weeks that Air Force bombers made long-range flights about 60 miles off the Iranian coast , moves that military officials said were planned to prevent Iran from attacking American troops in the region.
The United States periodically carries out these quick demonstration missions in the Middle East and Asia to show American airpower to allies and adversaries. But tensions have increased before the January 3 anniversary of the American drone attack that killed General Qassim Suleimani, commander of the elite Quds Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, and Iraqi leader of an Iran-backed militia army – deaths that Iranian leaders repeatedly insist have not yet taken hold.
American intelligence analysts in recent days said they had detected air defenses, maritime forces and other Iranian security units on high alert. But senior Defense Department officials acknowledge that they cannot say whether Iran or its Shiite representatives in Iraq are preparing to attack American troops or retaliate if Trump orders a preemptive strike against them, an option that advisers convinced him last month. past, at least for now.
The bomber mission on Wednesday, which included F-16 fighters from the United States Air Force, flew into the center of the Persian Gulf and was sent out of Iranian airspace. American warplanes were in the gulf region for about two hours before returning home, officials said. The Air Force conducted similar B-52 missions on November 21 and December 10. In all three missions, there was no immediate response from Iran.
“We do not seek conflict, but no one should underestimate our ability to defend our forces or to act decisively in response to any attack,” said Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., head of the Pentagon Central Command, in a statement on Wednesday.
Inside a post on Twitter Last week, after a meeting with senior White House officials, Trump said Iran was behind the rocket attacks on the United States Embassy in Baghdad on December 20. “Some Iran-friendly health advice”, Mr. Trump tweeted. “If an American is killed, I will hold Iran accountable. Think about it. “
Trump’s post was followed by a statement from the Central Command, which classified the attacks involving 21 rockets the largest 107mm in a decade against U.S. military personnel in Iraq. American military officials said on Wednesday that the rocket attacks were carried out by rogue militia groups backed by Iran, including Kataib Hezbollah, whose leader, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, was killed in the January 3 drone attack.
Kataib Hezbollah denied any involvement in last week’s rocket attacks, which killed at least one Iraqi civilian and damaged the embassy complex.
Last year, Iranian-aligned representatives in Iraq carried out more than 50 rocket attacks on bases where US troops are staying, as well as at the American embassy in Baghdad, and launched 90 attacks on trains carrying supplies for American troops, from according to the Pentagon.
American commanders and diplomats say the attacks are aimed at expelling American troops from Iraq, where Trump has ordered the Pentagon to cut 2,500 people by mid-January.
Tension was high as it approached the anniversary of General Suleimani’s death in Iraq, where the Trump administration said he was planning attacks on American forces.
Iran responded at the time with missile strikes against bases in Iraq where US troops were located. No one was killed and the immediate crisis subsided, although Iran said it did not fully avenge the death of General Suleimani.
Last month, a leading Iranian scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, was killed in eastern Tehran in a daytime attack believed to have been carried out by Israeli agents. American and Israeli officials say Fakhrizadeh was considered the driving force behind what they described as Iran’s secret nuclear weapons program.
In the past three weeks, Central Command dispatched the bombers, sent an extra squadron of fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, kept the Nimitz aircraft carrier in the region, and publicly announced for the first time in almost a decade that a submarine Tomahawk missile fire was underway. operating.