US military moving B-2 bombers from mainland US to Guam – report
The US military is moving B-2 bombers from mainland US to the Pacific island of Guam, two US officials told Reuters on Saturday.
The New York Times further reports that the bombers, which have a range of over 6,000 nautical miles and a payload capacity of more than 40,000 pounds to carry various conventional and nuclear weapons, took off from Whiteman Air Force base in Missouri.
According to air traffic control communications, the bombers appear to be accompanied by refueling tankers.
The reported movement of the bombers come as Donald Trump deliberate on whether to militarily involve the US in the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel.
The White House has yet to confirm the movement of the bombers.
Key events
Israel launches new strikes on southern Iran
Israel has launched new strikes against southern Iran on Saturday, with its military saying that it is targeting the areas of Bandar Abbas where drone storage sites and a weapons facility is located.
Israeli forces are “currently striking UAV storage facilities and a weapons facility in southwestern Iran in the area of Bandar Abbas,” a military statement said, Agence France-Presse reports.
Iran’s Tasnim news agency said air defences were active in the country’s south after detecting Israeli enemy aircraft, with batteries responding in Bandar Lengeh and Bandar Abbas.
William Christou
Israel’s military has said it killed two top Iranian military officials in overnight strikes as European diplomatic efforts to bring the US and Iran back to the negotiating table stalled.
An Israeli military official said on Saturday that Saeed Izadi, the head of the Palestine Corps of al-Quds, the foreign branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), had been killed in a strike on a flat in the city of Qom, central Iran.
The Israeli military said Izadi had played a key role in the financing and arming of Hamas before its attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
The official said Behnam Shahriyari, another senior official in al-Quds responsible for helping finance the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, had also been killed in a strike.
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Iran has threatened to attack shipments of military aid to Israel.
“We warn that sending any military or radar equipment by boat or aircraft from any country to assist the Zionist regime will be considered participation in the aggression against Islamic Iran and will be a legitimate target for the armed forces,” a spokesman said in a video statement broadcast on state TV on Saturday, Agence France-Presse reports.
A former bodyguard for Hassan Nasrallah, the former leader of Hezbollah who was assassinated last year by Israel, was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Iran on Saturday, Agence France-Presse reports.
Hussein Khalil – commonly known as Abu Ali, and nicknamed Nasrallah’s “shield” – was killed near the Iraqi border after crossing into Iran, the Hezbollah official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
An Iraqi armed group said one of its commanders was killed in the attack, and confirmed the death of Khalil and his son.
Here are some images coming through the newswires from Iran and Israel:
An Israeli attack in western Iran killed at least five army personnel and wounded nine others on Saturday, Agence France-Presse reports, citing Iranian media.
“Five army officers were killed and nine others were wounded in today’s attack by the Israeli regime on the western city of Sumar” in Kermanshah province, the Fars news agency reported, quoting a provincial official.
Peter Beaumont
Israel’s assault on Iran, including its nuclear and ballistic weapons programme, is unlikely to secure its long-term strategic objectives, even if Benjamin Netanyahu manages to persuade the Trump administration into joining the conflict in the coming days and weeks, experts have said.
According to diplomats, military specialists and security analysts, Israel – and its prime minister – is likely to face mounting headwinds in the campaign, amid warnings that it risks dangerously destabilising the region.
There is mounting scepticism over whether even the US’s use of massive ground-penetrating bombs would be able to knock out Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility, which is buried deep beneath a mountain, and questions have emerged about Israel’s ability to sustain a long-range offensive that has exposed its cities to counterattack by ballistic missiles.
Experts make the distinction between Israel’s operational success in targeting key Iranian sites and individuals, and its strategic objectives which appear to have expanded to regime change in Tehran, on top of destroying its nuclear programme.
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US military moving B-2 bombers from mainland US to Guam – report
The US military is moving B-2 bombers from mainland US to the Pacific island of Guam, two US officials told Reuters on Saturday.
The New York Times further reports that the bombers, which have a range of over 6,000 nautical miles and a payload capacity of more than 40,000 pounds to carry various conventional and nuclear weapons, took off from Whiteman Air Force base in Missouri.
According to air traffic control communications, the bombers appear to be accompanied by refueling tankers.
The reported movement of the bombers come as Donald Trump deliberate on whether to militarily involve the US in the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel.
The White House has yet to confirm the movement of the bombers.
Israel has accused Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Saturday of trying to attack Israeli citizens in Cyprus.
Writing on X, Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Saar said that the attack was thwarted, “thanks to the activity of the Cypriot security authorities, in cooperation with Israeli security services.” He did not provide more details on the attack.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported on Saturday that Cyprus police have arrested a British man on suspicion of terror-related offences and espionage.
Several Cypriot news outlets reported the suspect was a man of Azeri ethnic descent and had been arrested in the Zakaki suburb of the coastal city of Limassol, Reuters reports.
The suspect was thought to have had a British RAF military base in nearby Akrotiri under surveillance, as well as Cyprus’s own Andreas Papandreou Air Base in the western region of Paphos since mid-April, Cyprus’s ANT1 news portal reported.
It remains unclear whether the thwarted attack referred to by Saar and the arrest of the British national are related.
Here is a map of where Iran’s top military official Saeed Izadi was killed overnight by an Israeli airstrike:
Houthis to target US ships in Red Sea if US gets involved in Israel’s attacks on Iran, says Houthi spokesperson
Yemen’s Houthis will target US ships in the Red Sea if Washington becomes involved in Israeli attacks on Iran, the group’s military spokesperson said on Saturday.
“If the US gets involved in an attack and aggression against Iran with the Israeli enemy, the armed forces will target its ships and warships in the Red Sea,” the group’s military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a video statement.
