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US-GULF-IRAN-MILITARY-POLITICS
US flies two B-52s over Gulf in message for Iran
WASHINGTON, Dec 11, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – The United States deployed two B-52
long-range bombers over the Gulf on Thursday in a show of force directed at
Iran as Washington moves to cut its ground-level military presence in the
region.
The two bombers took off at short notice from Barksdale Air Force Base in
Louisiana for the non-stop, 36-hour mission to cross Europe and then the
Arabian Peninsula to the Gulf, looping near Qatar while keeping a “safe
distance” from Iran’s coastline, US defense officials said.
The mission, the second such in two months, “was designed to underscore the
US military’s commitment to its regional partners, while also validating the
ability to rapidly deploy combat power anywhere in the world,” according to
US Central Command commander General Frank McKenzie.
While McKenzie did not name Iran as the focus of the mission, the US has
used shows of force in the air and on the sea to deter Tehran from “malign
behavior” toward US forces and allies in the Gulf.
“Potential adversaries should understand that no nation on earth is more
ready and capable of rapidly deploying additional combat power in the face of
any aggression,” McKenzie said in a statement.
The flight was coordinated with US allies, and aircraft from Saudi Arabia,
Bahrain and Qatar flew with the bombers as they traversed the airspace,
according to a US defense official.
In the last year President Donald Trump has ordered the Pentagon to slash
US troop numbers in Iraq to just 2,500 by mid-January, the lowest level since
2003.
Likewise, he is cutting the number of troops on the ground in Afghanistan
and Somalia.
But the US Navy has kept a significant presence in the region.
In late November a carrier group led by the nuclear-powered USS Nimitz
sailed into the Gulf.
Speaking at a virtual conference sponsored by Defense One after the
announcement, McKenzie pointed out that the B-52 deployment came nearly one
year after US forces killed Iranian Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani
while he was visiting Baghdad on January 3, 2020.
Since then Iran has been expected to try to retaliate, and even more so
since the assassination inside Iran of senior nuclear scientist Mohsen
Fakhrizadeh last month, which Tehran blames on Israel.
“I think they were embarrassed by it,” he said of Fakhrizadeh’s murder.
“I think they’re searching for a way to respond… But their process is
often slow and often not completely synchronized. So I think they are still
working what that’s going to be.”
McKenzie said he is always in discussions with Pentagon leadership on what
kind and size of presence the US military needs to deter Iran.
“Because that is our intent: to convince them that it is not in their
interest to lash out, it is not in their interest to attack us either
directly or indirectly,” he said.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0930 hrs