Three US B-52 bombers landed in the UK on Monday as part of a looming assault on Iran’s missile sites — as the Pentagon vows to claim air superiority over the Islamic Republic.
The B-52 Stratofortresses, which are capable of carrying up to 70,000 pounds of explosives, landed at the RAF Fairford airbase, in Gloucestershire, joining a fleet of B-1 Lancers that began arriving over the weekend.
Images from the Gloucestershire base, one of the few bases in Europe certified to operate America’s heavy bombers, showed the B-52s landing near rows of massive bombs stationed by the tarmac.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who initially refused to grant the US permission to use the UK’s airbases to attack Iran, said the build up at Fairford was necessary to defend the West from Iran’s alleged “scorched-earth strategy.”
Following the start of Operation Epic Fury, the Islamic Republic began a mass retaliation attack across the Middle East, threatening US and European allies.
The US has now deployed B-52s for the first time during the conflict, with the Cold-War era bombers capable of launching nuclear warheads, cruise missiles and other heavy bombs more than 1,500 miles away.
They were first introduced in 1952 and are one of the oldest aircraft designs still operating in the US military.
The heavy bombers are also capable of carrying the 30,000-lb. Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bunker-buster bomb, which can destroy deep, underground facilities operated by Iran’s current regime.
Along with the B-2 Spirit, the B-52 serves as a key part of America’s Nuclear Triad, which aims to deter nuclear attacks by being able to launch nuclear warheads around the world by land, sea and air.
The appearance of the B-52s comes after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the US would soon take over Iran’s airspace, promising “death and destruction from the sky all day long” to America’s enemies.
“We are just getting started,” Hegseth touted last week. “We are accelerating, not decelerating.”
“[Iran’s regime is] toast, and they know it, or at least soon enough, they will know it,” the defense secretary added.
Starmer, however, appeared less enthused as he told British lawmakers that the UK “does not believe in regime change from the skies,” the BBC reported.
The US has hit more than 3,000 targets inside Iran and sunk 43 of the Islamic Republic’s naval ships in the first week of the war, according to Central Command.
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