Six B-2 stealth bombers from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri appear to be en route to a U.S. Air Force base in Guam, according to flight tracking data and voice communications with air traffic control.
The bombers apparently refueled after launching from Missouri, suggesting they launched without full fuel tanks due to a heavy onboard payload, which could be bunker-buster bombs.
The B-2 can carry two 15-ton bunker-buster bombs—which only the U.S. possesses. Experts say the bombs could be critical to targeting Iran’s most heavily fortified nuclear site: Fordow.
HOW BUNKER BUSTER BOMBS WORK AND HOW THEY COULD DESTROY IRAN’S FORDOW NUCLEAR SITE
Mark Dubowitz, CEO of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital that "destroying [Fordow] from the air is a job only the U.S. can do."
According to Jonathan Ruhe, Director of Foreign Policy for JINSA, the bunker-busters are designed to use the force of gravity to "penetrate through any mixture of earth, rock, and concrete before the bomb itself then explodes" underground. The explosion that ensues could take out the target fully or "collapse the structure" around the target "without necessarily obliterating it," he explained.
US TROOPS IN THE MIDDLE EAST COULD FACE INCREASED THREATS AMID IRAN CONFLICT: ‘IRREPARABLE DAMAGE’
President Donald Trump, who has said he will make a decision on U.S. involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict, is expected to return to the White House on Saturday afternoon. The president is expected to receive intelligence briefings with the National Security Council on Saturday and Sunday as he considers possible actions against Iran.
Recently, the president appeared to publicly disagree with Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, stating she was "wrong" when she testified in March that there is "no evidence" Iran is building a nuclear weapon. Gabbard later responded to the apparent controversy, saying that "the dishonest media is intentionally taking my testimony out of context and spreading fake news as a way to manufacture division."
"America has intelligence that Iran is at the point that it can produce a nuclear weapon within weeks to months, if they decide to finalize the assembly. President Trump has been clear that can’t happen, and I agree," Gabbard added in her post on X.
While the U.S. has not taken direct action in the conflict, the State Department on Friday announced sanctions on Tehran despite Secretary of State Marco Rubio initially putting distance between Jerusalem and Iran. The sanctions were imposed on eight entities and one individual "for their involvement in the procurement and shipment of proliferation-sensitive machinery from China for Iran’s defense industry."
