Two American B-52 bombers flew on Wednesday another 36-hour round-trip mission over the Persian Gulf of Louisiana in the last show of strength against Iran, the US Central Command of the Armed Forces (CENTCOM) said in a statement. .
Bombers flew nonstop from Louisiana’s Barksdale Air Force Base to the region earlier in the day. Flight tracking data showed a path in both the Persian Gulf and Saudi Arabia.
A US Air Force B-52 Stratofortress from the 2nd Bombing Wing, Barksdale Air Force Base, LA, flew F-15SAs from the Royal Saudi Arabian Air Force during a bomber task force mission over the area of responsibility of the US Central Command, January 27, 2021. (Photo by U.S. Air Force by senior aviator Roslyn Ward)
It is the sixth time since November, and the third this year, that U.S. strategic bombers have carried out deterrence missions near Iran and the first since President Biden took office this month.
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2nd Bomb Wing crews have successfully completed a presence patrol, CENTCOM said in a statement on Wednesday.
“This long-range, short-lived defensive mission was intended to demonstrate the United States Armed Forces ‘ability to deploy airpower anywhere in the world to stop potential aggression and show the United States’ commitment to regional security” , said.
“The United States does not seek conflict, but it continues to have a stance and a commitment to respond to any contingency around the world,” added CENTCOM, without citing Iran directly.
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In late 2020, two American B-52 bombers flew on an uninterrupted 30-hour or more round-trip mission from the United States to the Middle East to send a new warning to Iran, as a senior military officer said new warnings had been detected.
January 3 marked the one-year anniversary of US Special Operations forces killing Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani in a drone attack in Baghdad in 2020. A US intelligence report said Iran wants to “avenge this death, “according to a senior US military officer who spoke to Fox News and a small group of reporters.
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Earlier this month, Iran’s long-range missiles crashed near a commercial ship in the Indian Ocean and 100 miles from the Nimitz carrier strike group, Fox News learned, in the latest example of increased tensions in the region.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that a recent missile attack damaged part of a complex used by the Saudi royal family – an attack that can be attributed to Iran-backed Houthi rebels, which Trump’s State Department was leaving the country, designated a terrorist group in the last days of the administration.
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Biden expressed a desire to return the United States to the historic nuclear deal with Iran that Trump abandoned in 2018.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.