U.S. moves B-2 bombers closer to Iran as Trump leans towards strikes

Several U.S. Air Force B-2 bombers have taken off from a base in the United States and headed across the Pacific, as President Trump was expected to return to the White House on Saturday afternoon to meet with his national security team on whether to join Israel’s attacks on Iranian nuclear sites, The New York Times is reporting.

Air traffic control communications showed the B-2 aircraft, which can carry the 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs Mr. Trump is considering dropping on Iran’s underground nuclear facilities in Fordo, taking off from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri.

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The Iranian-backed Houthi militia of Yemen, which sits along a critical international shipping lane, has threatened to break its May truce with President Trump and attack U.S. targets if Washington supports the Israeli attacks on Iran.

“In the event that the Americans become involved in the attack and aggression against Iran alongside the Israeli enemy, the armed forces will target their ships and warships in the Red Sea,” their military spokesman, Yahya Saree, said on Saturday.

The movement of the strategic bombers came after Tulsi Gabbard says Iran could produce nuclear weapons “within weeks”, months after she testified before Congress that the country was not building them.

The US Director of National Intelligence said her March testimony – in which she said Iran had a stock of materials but was not building these weapons – had been taken out of context by “dishonest media”.

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Her change of position came after Donald Trump said she was “wrong” and that intelligence showed Iran had a “tremendous amount of material” and could have a nuclear weapon “within months”.