Israel Strikes Iran Again as U.S. Deploys B-2 Bombers to Pacific

Israel struck one of Iran’s biggest nuclear facilities Saturday as part of an overnight campaign that dropped hundreds of missiles across the Islamic Republic — just as the US deployed six nuke plant neutralizing B-2 stealth bomber jets to be on standby for a strike, insiders told The Post.

The Air Force sent the bombers — the only aircraft that can deploy 15-ton bunker-busting bombs to take out Iran’s nuclear capabilities — overnight from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri to a military base in Guam and possibly Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, which could suggest President Trump is planning to use them sooner rather than later.

“They are finishing setting the theater to give Trump the ability to strike,” a source close to the Department of Defense told The Post, adding that other bombers will likely be sent to Diego Garcia in the Pacific.

Another White House insider added: “Moving assets into place gives the President full spectrum optionality. It shows he’s serious and increases his negotiating leverage, and it allows him to move quickly if he makes the decision to strike.”

The warplanes, which were flanked by supply planes, were using the call sign MYTEE21, which is typically associated with stealth bomber missions, according to The Times.

The B-2 bombers were spotted off the California coast around 5 a.m. eastern time — meaning it’s possible that the US could strike Iran as early as Saturday night — though the anticipated stopovers in Guam and Diego Garcia, and Trump’s efforts at last-minute diplomacy, could prolong the possible timeframe.

The insiders said the bombers will likely be moved to Diego Garcia, a strategic military location in the Indian Ocean that the UK maintains sovereignty over.

The bombers each carry two 15-ton bunker buster bombs — the Israelis possess neither B-2s nor bunker busters — which have the capability to carry out an attack on Fordow, Iran’s only facility , which sits buried 300 feet inside a mountain, where international inspectors have found uranium purified to near weapons grade.

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Should the Trump administration decide to launch an attack from the Indian Ocean island, the US would need British permission.

“It shows that he means business and if Iranian leaders choose not to surrender unconditionally and destroy verifiably what remains of their nuclear facilities, President Trump now has the means to destroy them himself at a moment’s notice,” a third insider, a former Trump administration national security official, said.

“The clock is ticking on the future of the Iranian regime, and this deployment underscores that reality more than anything to date.”

There are already at least six US B-2 bombers at Diego Garcia, which the Pentagon deployed back in April in what analysts said was a warning to Iran amid growing tensions.

In a tense phone call on Thursday, Israeli officials told the Trump administration that they didn’t want to wait two weeks for the US to decide whether or not it would join the conflict, sources told Reuters. Israel believes it has a limited window of opportunity to strike and signaled that it could act alone.

Iran has continued to progress its nuclear weapon programming despite repeated warnings by the US and Israel, with Netanyahu warning that Iran intended to use the nukes for the “annihilation” of the Jewish state.

Entering the ninth day of conflict between the warring countries, the attack on the Isfahan nuclear site was intended to “deepen” the damage the Jewish state had already inflicted on the facility after a bombing back on June 13 strike, the Israeli Defense Forces said.

“We had already struck the site in the operation’s opening blow—and last night, we struck it again in a wide-scale strike to reinforce our achievements,” an IDF spokesperson said in an X post.

In other developments Saturday:

• The US started evacuating Americans from Israel, the first time such flights have been offered there since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack. Israel Ambassador Mike Huckabee warned that: “It could take a few days to get everyone out due to very limited flights and ships and a very high demand.”
• The two oldest mosques in the Israeli city Haifa were damaged by an Iranian airstrike on Friday. The Masjid Al-Saghir, built in 1761 by Zahir al-Umar, and the Al Jarina Grand Mosque of Haifa, built in 1775, were targeted while worshippers were inside, according to President Isaac Herzog, who slammed the attack as “outrageous.”
• The former head of security who spent decades protecting late Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Iran, sources told The Associated Press. Abu Ali Khalil, better known as Abu Ali Jawad, was put in charge of Nasrallah’s tomb in Beirut after the leader was killed in September.
• Israeli drone strikes were reported on Saturday in Tabriz and Tehran, the latter of which served as the main residence of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei before he went into hiding.

The military shared video of the aftermath, showing charred remains of uranium conversion infrastructure and labs where Iranian officials were allegedly developing weapons.

The IDF also claimed to have caused “significant damage” to Tehran’s centrifuge production capabilities.

Several buildings on the Isfahan property appeared to be destroyed, but Iranian media reported that there was no leakage of hazardous materials.

The attack on the nuclear plant was part of a far-reaching overnight campaign that saw the Jewish state drop 150 missiles on dozens of targets in Iran.

Four primed Iranian ballistic missile launchers were “neutralized” in strikes, as well as trucks used to launch drones, and Iranian radars and air defense sites, the IDF said.

IDF strikes Saturday also took out a nuclear scientist and 15 Iranian Air Defense personnel, as well as three top commanders in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, according to state media reports.

At least 24 Israeli civilians have been killed by Iranian missile attacks, according to the IDF.

More than 430 Iranians have been killed, and another 3,500 injured, Iranian media claimed, citing the health ministry.

In separate strikes, three commanders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed , including the “founder of the Iranian regime’s plan to destroy Israel,” officials in Tel Aviv said.

In return, Iran fired an overnight volley of five ballistic missiles at central Israel, all of which the IDF claims to have intercepted.

But an Iranian Shahed drone made landfall, crashing into a two-story building in Beit She’an in northern Israel, according to initial reports.

Trump has teased that he would make his final decision on whether to enter the conflict and strike Iran in the “next two weeks,” as he maintains slim hopes that Tehran returns to the negotiating table.

Iranian leadership has said it will not reengage the US in talks as long as Israel continues its offensive.

“I think it’s very hard to make that request right now. If somebody is winning, it’s a little bit harder to do than if somebody is losing,” Trump told reporters outside Air Force One on Friday.

Meanwhile, the Yemeni Armed Forces warned Saturday that it would help Iran attack US ships and warships in the Red Sea if American forces take up arms “in support of the Israeli enemy.”

Trump was at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, but was expected to return to the White House Saturday afternoon.