US stealth bombers head over Pacific
WASHINGTON: US stealth bombers were flying on Saturday across the Pacific Ocean, according to tracking data and media reports, fuelling speculation over their intended mission as President Donald Trump considers joining Israel's attack on Iranian nuclear sites.
Multiple B-2 bomber aircraft left a base in the central United States overnight and were later tracked flying off the California coast along with aerial refueling jets, The New York Times and specialist plane tracking sites reported.
The B-2 is capable of carrying America's heaviest payloads, including the bunker-busting GBU-57, a 30,000-pound (13,607 kg) warhead capable of penetrating 200 feet (61 metres) underground before exploding.
Such a bomb, which Israel is not known to possess, is the only weapon capable of destroying Iran's deeply buried nuclear facilities.
When reached for comment, the Pentagon referred AFP to the White House, which did not immediately respond.
Trump, who rarely spends weekends in Washington, is due to return to the White House on Saturday evening to hold an unspecified "National Security Meeting."
The president said on Friday that Iran had a "maximum" of two weeks to avoid possible US air strikes, indicating he could take a decision before the fortnight deadline he had announced a day earlier.
Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday his country will not halt nuclear activity "under any circumstances" amidst ongoing fighting with Israel which hit nuclear sites.
"We are ready to discuss and cooperate to build confidence in the field of peaceful nuclear activities, however, we do not agree to reduce nuclear activities to zero under any circumstances," said Pezeshkian during a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron, according to the official IRNA news agency.
Israel said on Saturday it had killed three more Iranian commanders in its unprecedented bombing campaign against the Islamic republic, which Foreign Minister Gideon Saar claimed had delayed Tehran's alleged progress towards a nuclear weapon by two years.
Israel's military said a strike in Qom south of Tehran successfully targeted top Iranian official Saeed Izadi, in charge of coordination with Palestinian militant group Hamas, adding two other commanders from Iran's Revolutionary Guards were also killed overnight.
As Israel continued to strike Iran's nuclear facilities and military targets, Saar said in an interview that by his country's own assessment, it had "already delayed for at least two or three years the possibility for them to have a nuclear bomb". — Agencies
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