{"id":528,"date":"2025-04-08T11:02:47","date_gmt":"2025-04-08T11:02:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/?p=528"},"modified":"2025-04-08T11:02:47","modified_gmt":"2025-04-08T11:02:47","slug":"stealth-bombers-ready-to-destroy-the-iran-nuclear-threat-all-the-talk-is-over-if-the-nuclear-potential-is-not-ended","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/stealth-bombers-ready-to-destroy-the-iran-nuclear-threat-all-the-talk-is-over-if-the-nuclear-potential-is-not-ended\/","title":{"rendered":"STEALTH BOMBERS READY TO DESTROY THE IRAN NUCLEAR THREAT, ALL THE TALK IS OVER IF THE NUCLEAR POTENTIAL IS NOT ENDED"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pentagon Prepares for IRAN DETERRENT STRIKE<\/h1>\n

Unprecedented number of B-2 bombers amassed for Iran strike<\/h3>\n
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In the largest single deployment of stealth bombers in U.S. history, the Pentagon has sent six B-2 \u201cSpirit\u201d aircraft to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n

The long-range bombers, which are uniquely suited to evade Iranian air defenses and can carry America\u2019s most potent bunker busting weapons, flew in from Missouri last week in a little noticed operation.<\/p>\n

The B-2s carry not just bombs, but a message for Iran: \u201cdo you see our sword?,\u201d as one retired general told Newsmax this week.<\/p>\n

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President Donald Trump hasn\u2019t been shy in threatening Iran, saying that if Tehran doesn\u2019t close the door on a nuclear capability they will experience \u201cbombing the likes of which they haven\u2019t seen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHell\u201d will \u201crain down\u201d on the country, Trump has also said. Just today, amidst the stock market meltdown Trump again reiterated his threat, saying that \u201cdoing a deal would be preferable to doing the obvious\u201d \u2014 which to the president is undertaking a massive strike.<\/p>\n

Blatant as the threat is, the U.S. government\u00a0has not otherwise publicly acknowledged the bomber buildup. Though B-2 bombers were used to carry out<\/a> strikes on underground Houthi facilities in Yemen (both under the Biden and Trump administration), the forward deployment of the bombers to the island of Diego Garcia was only reported when\u00a0commercial satellite images<\/a> of the airbase there revealed the six on the runway.<\/p>\n

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Satellite image of six B-2s in Diego Garcia | Planet Labs Inc.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cTo my knowledge, this is the largest B-2 deployment to a forward location,\u201d Hans Kristensen, director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists told me. Kristensen is the world\u2019s leading tracker of nuclear comings and goings.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the bombers, they\u2019re not in hangers, they\u2019re underneath satellites where they can be photographed and seen; and the idea is, do you see our sword?\u201d retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt, who served as Deputy U.S. Military Representative to NATO, said in an interview with Newsmax last week. Holt also said that the B-2 deployment \u201cgives the president a military option that he can actually use these weapons against Iran if needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is a highly visible threat to Tehran, but at least one party isn\u2019t supposed to notice: the American people.<\/p>\n

The Pentagon refuses to acknowledge that the deployment is even happening. Trump\u2019s new Pentagon Press Secretary Sean Parnell has only vaguely alluded<\/a> to \u201cother air assets\u201d being deployed it has announced that two aircraft carriers will stay in the region, the result of a delay in sending one home after its current deployment.<\/p>\n

According to Google Trends, searches for terms like \u201cB-2\u201d and \u201cwar with Iran\u201d have only modestly increased, indicating that public curiosity has been suppressed despite Donald Trump\u2019s many threats to attack his enemies.<\/p>\n

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Google searches for \u201cB-2\u201d (blue) and \u201cWar with Iran\u201d (red) | Google Trends<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Why B-2s?<\/h1>\n
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The B-2 was first designed during the Cold War to penetrate deep into Russian territory for a nuclear attack.\u00a0The aircraft\u2019s stealth features (making it all but \u201cinvisible\u201d to conventional radar) allow it to evade even the most sophisticated air defenses. Subsequent to its deployment, the bomber was modified so that it could take on unique conventional roles as well, especially in attacking underground facilities.<\/p>\n

Though the U.S. has a variety of long-range fighters in the region \u2014 F-16s, F\/A-18s, F-15Es, and F-35s \u2014 deployed on aircraft carriers and based in countries like Jordan and the UAE, the B-2s also allow the Trump administration to carry out unilateral strikes. That is, without the permission or involvement of any other Middle East countries. (Diego Garcia continues to be militarily controlled by the U.K.)<\/p>\n

Affording a unilateral option, the bombers also fulfill one of the priorities of the Pentagon and the administration in undertaking any use of force: making sure that the risk to U.S. personnel is minimal. Though they are much more expensive to operate and even deploy, the risk of one of the B-2s getting shot down is lower than that of fighters.<\/p>\n

As I\u2019ve already written, the Pentagon has been developing a new Iran war plan in recent months<\/a>. That even includes options for the use of nuclear weapons against Iran, which I\u2019ve also written about<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Assuming the B-2 bombers are directly connected to a full-fledged war decision would be a mistake. They are tools much better suited to a single demonstration strike. Note that from Diego Garcia, a round trip flight to Tehran exceeds 6,000 miles (more than 10 hours of flying), thus limiting how many of the bombers could be used in a sustained operation.<\/p>\n

Assessing the likelihood of war with Iran requires understanding three distinct parts:<\/p>\n

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  1. Intelligence assessments<\/strong>;<\/em><\/li>\n
  2. Public muscle flexing<\/strong> (of which the B-2 bombers are part); and <\/em><\/li>\n
  3. War planning<\/strong>.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Each of these three elements exists in separate stovepipes and each proceeds along their own timelines and separate approaches to the problem. It is when the three are in sync that the moment of maximum danger emerges. We\u2019re not yet there, but let\u2019s take a look at each of the three.<\/p>\n

    Intelligence<\/h1>\n
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    Intelligence assessments fall into two categories, the big picture and the day-to-day. I recently wrote about the intelligence community\u2019s latest long view of Iran<\/a>; that is, its assessment of Iran\u2019s overall condition and Tehran\u2019s worldview. That intelligence assessment does not scream war, but again, that\u2019s the intelligence community\u2019s view, not that of the White House.<\/p>\n

    Day-to-day (or crisis) intelligence \u2014 an assessment that Iranian forces are on the move, that Iran is readying an attack, that a terrorist strike is imminent \u2014 doesn\u2019t necessarily have to jive with the long-term prognosis as seen by the eggheads in Washington. Crisis intelligence is more of an operational matter.<\/p>\n

    Though mostly operational in nature, crisis intelligence is also the kind of \u201cintelligence\u201d that leaders at the top have to monitor. Think of it as cable news or some viral social media frenzy. It sucks all of the oxygen out of the brain and there is a tendency to lose touch with the big picture. A contributing factor of crisis intelligence in Trump\u2019s mind is also what\u2019s on Fox or Newsmax \u2014 which is to say that\u2019s what this president sees.<\/p>\n

    Flexing<\/h1>\n
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    Which brings us to public muscle flexing of the B-2 deployments. I say flexing because what follows isn\u2019t \u201cwar,\u201d not full scale war as people think of war. It is more the preamble of the government or the military taking action to \u201cdefend\u201d itself, or an occasion by which the Pentagon expresses anger or frustration, or wants to send a signal, even by bombing.<\/p>\n

    This is the realm where Donald Trump\u2019s stream of consciousness or Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth\u2019s need to stick one of his tattoos in someone\u2019s face plays an outsize role. What the boss says in this world is crucially important, even if it is ridiculous, because the war machine has to know at what speed to operate and what thing it should produce. And it needs to know right now, tonight, which is why the B-2s are there in the region in such large numbers.<\/p>\n

    When Trump spews, even his tone influences the military \u201cposture,\u201d as those who are out \u201cin the field\u201d seek to gauge what the White House is planning so that they can anticipate what\u2019s coming. (It is hardly ever organized or clear under any administration.) Thus Trump\u2019s bombast and his body language influences U.S. moves, which influence how the Iranians see the dangers, which can provoke Tehran to flex its own muscles, which then triggers the crisis intelligence alerts, which makes Trump and company speak more loudly which pushes the U.S. military to make moves to get ready, which the Iranians see, which we see and which starts a never-ending cycle.<\/p>\n

    You get the idea.<\/p>\n

    War Planning<\/h1>\n
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    Behind all of this is war \u201cplanning.\u201d<\/p>\n

    A common misconception is that the Pentagon has contingency plans for everything, a belief that overlooks how time consuming and irregularly they are produced. War planning is the realm of what\u2019s possible, not just what the president says.<\/p>\n

    Moving B-2s to Diego Garcia or increasing the number of aircraft carriers in the region, or bringing in more squadrons of aircraft \u2014 all of these are muscle flexing actions. Sustained military action with national objectives (e.g. defeat the Iranian military, achieve regime change, eliminate Iran\u2019s nuclear capabilities), are a whole other dimension. This is the world of placing and sustaining troops, not just airplanes, and making sure that they have sufficient supplies, everything from ammunition to meals to medical care.<\/p>\n

    In the world of war planning, when Trump says \u201cI want X,\u201d the order goes down the chain of command through a mind-boggling number of levels, broadening in scope the further the order goes down the chain until someone (and many someones) say \u2018We can\u2019t do it.\u2019 That someone could be anyone, but for simplicity\u2019s sake, think of the ultimate someone as \u201cthe Pentagon.\u201d The Pentagon says this and the Pentagon says that.<\/p>\n

    If the Pentagon wants to do X, they can move mountains to get it done. And that takes time, and lots of resources.<\/p>\n

    If the Pentagon doesn\u2019t really want to do X, because it thinks the risks are too high or because it thinks the order ill-considered, it has an arsenal of passive aggressive ways of gumming up the works to make sure it doesn\u2019t happen except as it wants. \u2018What do you actually mean, Mr. President, sir, that you want to end Tehran?\u2019 the Pentagon asks. \u2018Nukes?\u2019 \u2018Covert action?\u2019 \u2018World War III?\u2019 \u2018That looks a lot like Ukraine, or worse, sir. Are you sure?\u2019<\/p>\n

    You can think of this as calmer heads prevailing, but it is also a game that the Pentagon plays, either to shift responsibility for the outcome to the politicians or as to guide the president\u2019s order so that it ends up looking like it\u2019s asking for what the Pentagon wants, what the Pentagon thinks is possible and will allow it \u2014 that is, the Pentagon, not America \u2014 to declare victory.<\/p>\n

    Over the past 24 years, the Pentagon has perfected this game of executing the play it wants to run, not what the coach wants. That\u2019s why the U.S. has become very good at bombing targets and conducting aerial assassinations, and in keeping the ball in play.<\/p>\n

    The military has grown highly proficient at executing a strike (or defending against one). To those sitting at their desks in Washington, the risk factors of sending off the B-2s to rain down hell seem minor: no American (and even relatively few Iranian civilians) are going to die, world markets aren\u2019t going to be roiled by an oil crisis, and the public isn\u2019t going to much notice. Trump can thus push the button and activate those who are pulling the triggers with relative ease. That\u2019s why these days we see so many instances of one-off bomb strikes. Donald Trump doesn\u2019t seem capable of changing any of this.<\/p>\n

    But he can yell louder and be more offensive and threaten more. When it comes to Iran, he is revving himself up. It\u2019s not war that the B-2s are threatening. It\u2019s worse than that. This is preparation for reckless action that, from the Pentagon\u2019s perspective, carries little risk. That\u2019s dangerous and is also why the public must to involve itself. But it can\u2019t do that when the Pentagon refuses to publicly acknowledge what it\u2019s doing.<\/p>\n

    That\u2019s why I do these stories.<\/p>\n

    I\u2019ve written over a dozen articles over the past year about war with Iran, trying to make the point that it is already here; that the endless tit-for-tat strikes we\u2019ve seen is<\/em> \u201cwar.\u201d We might get to the point where all three elements of the war-making process sync together and ground troops get involved, but in the interim, we are just one or two steps below maximum danger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Pentagon Prepares for IRAN DETERRENT STRIKE Unprecedented number of B-2 bombers amassed for Iran strike In the largest single deployment of stealth bombers in U.S. history, the Pentagon has sent six B-2 \u201cSpirit\u201d aircraft to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. The long-range bombers, which are uniquely suited to evade Iranian air defenses and can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-iran-nuclear"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=528"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":529,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528\/revisions\/529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sterlingcooper.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}