U.S. Moves Refueling Planes To Middle East As Ahead Of Iran Strike
- 1.10.2025, 7:35
Some of them landed at the Al Udeid base in Qatar.
The United States has begun a large-scale deployment of refueling planes to the Middle East, as it was before the U.S. strike on Iran's nuclear facilities in June. According to flight tracking systems, on September 28, about 12 tankers headed to the British RAF Mildenhall airbase, and on September 30, dozens of refueling tankers along with fighter jets flew to the Middle East. As Clash Report notes, some of them landed at the Al Udeid base in Qatar.
Three anonymous sources in the British Defense Ministry told the Daily Mail that such a deployment could have "sinister" overtones. And Behnam Taleblu, senior director of the Iran program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, reminded the publication that the last time similar moves ended in attacks in the Middle East. He emphasized that during Operation Midnight Hammer, the Donald Trump administration used disinformation to cover up the deployment of B-2 bombers to Iranian facilities. Taleblu also pointed out that Trump remains the only US president in the past two decades to use military force against Iranian nuclear facilities.
The deployment coincided with an unprecedented meeting between Trump and US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth with the US military high command on September 30. Hundreds of generals and admirals, including those in active conflict zones, were summoned to the summit. According to Bloomberg, Hegseth urged military commanders during the meeting to "prepare for victory."
A 12-day war took place between Israel and Iran from June 13 to June 24. During the fighting, Israeli aircraft suppressed Iranian air defense systems and struck key nuclear facilities. On June 22, the U.S. joined the operation, attacking three critical nuclear centers at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. According to CIA chief John Ratcliffe, the strikes caused significant damage to Iran's nuclear program.
After the fighting ended, Seyed Mohammad Sadr, a member of Iran's Political Expediency Determination Council, said Russia had given Israel data on the location of Iranian air defense systems and called the strategic alliance with Moscow "useless."