Twelve American F-22 Raptor fighter jets landed at an Israel Air Force base on Tuesday evening as tensions in the Middle East continue to rise and uncertainty looms regarding Iran.
Advanced U.S. Airpower Deployed to Israel
The F-22 stealth jet, operated exclusively by the United States, is considered the world’s most advanced air superiority fighter. The U.S. Department of Defense has not made the aircraft available for sale to any foreign government due to its highly classified nature.
The twin-engined aircraft is a joint product of Lockheed Martin and Boeing and is capable of ground attack and electronic warfare in addition to its air superiority role. It represents the latest addition to U.S. forces being assembled in the region in preparation for a potential attack on Iran.
Among the forces deployed by the U.S. to the region is the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest warship, currently stationed in the eastern Mediterranean. Over 300 U.S. military aircraft are reportedly deployed across the Middle East, according to open-source intelligence and publicly available flight data.
The strategic positioning of U.S. forces, aircraft, and warships comes ahead of scheduled nuclear negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, set to take place on Thursday in Geneva. Washington and Jerusalem are preparing for any possible outcome, according to officials.
“We are in negotiations with [Iran],” U.S. President Donald Trump said during his State of the Union address on Tuesday, “they want to make a deal, but we haven’t heard those secret words: ‘We will never have a nuclear weapon.’”
Trump stated his preference is to resolve the issue through diplomacy, but emphasized, “I will never allow the world’s No. 1 sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon.”
During his address, Trump referenced Operation Midnight Hammer, which involved the use of B-2 bombers, alongside F-22s and F-35s, to target Iran’s nuclear sites. While the B-2s were central to the June operation, Trump later confirmed the F-22’s essential role, even though no sorties were publicly detected.
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