Satellite Photo Shows US Fighters and Bombers at Key Base for Iran
By Amira El-Fekki, Middle East Reporter Jun 11, 2025
New satellite imagery reveals a significant concentration of U.S. militaryaircraft and bombers on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, including strategic B-52 bombers, KC-135 tankers, F-15 fighters and a C-5M heavy transport aircraft—a buildup signaling enhanced readiness for potential operations amid regional tensions.
Newsweek has reached out to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) for comment.
Why It Matters
Military deployment activity at the Diego Garcia air base has increased since March amid rising tensions with Iran and following President Donald Trump‘s order for military action against Iran’s proxy Houthi group in Yemen.
Although the U.S. and the Houthis reached a ceasefire agreement in May and nuclear talks with Iran have progressed, a failure to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons could still raise the risk of war. If Washington and Tehran clash, the remote base at Diego Garcia would likely play a key role for the U.S.
This image captured by the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 satellites on June 9 shows military aircraft at the Diego Garcia base. Copernicus/Sentinel Hub
What To Know
New satellite imagery shows the buildup of military aircraft on Diego Garcia, first spotted and analyzed by open-source intelligence analyst MT Anderson on X, formerly Twitter.
The U.S. Air Force recently ramped up its aerial refueling capabilities at the Diego Garcia base with KC-135 Stratotankers, in addition to the deployment of F-15 fighter jets and B-52 bombers.
The U.S. launched an intense campaign of airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen from March 15 until a ceasefire was reach on May 6.
🇺🇸NSF Diego Garcia🇺🇸
They’re back (or they never completely left🤷♂️)….
4x B-52 Stratofortress spotted at Diego Garcia along with 6x KC-135 Stratotanker, 6x F-15 and 1x C-5M
B-2 bombers were replaced by B-52s, Reuters reported a week later citing U.S. officials. On May 21, the U.S. Air Force announced that B-2 Spirit bombers had returned to Missouri after a deployment to Diego Garcia.
While the remoteness of the island offers protection from adversaries, Iran has posed a growing threat in recent years with Tehran demonstrating missile and drone capabilities, including launchers in standard shipping containers.
US to partially evacuate embassy in Iraq as Iran tensions rise
Tom Bateman, BBC State Department Correspondent & Mike Wendling Jun 12, 2025
Non-essential US embassy staff and their dependants in Baghdad are to be evacuated from Iraq due to heightened security risks, US government sources have said.
Officials did not say exactly what prompted the removal, but have been told Israel was ready to launch an operation into Iran, the BBC’s US partner CBS reported.
This was part of the reason some Americans were advised to leave the region, officials said, adding that they anticipated Iran could retaliate on certain US sites in Iraq.
It comes as US talks over Iran’s nuclear programme appear to have stalled in recent days.
US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff is still planning on holding talks with Iran about its nuclear programme on Sunday, officials told CBS.
Witkoff will meet Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Muscat, Axios reported.
A US state department official told the BBC: “We are constantly assessing the appropriate personnel posture at all our embassies.
“Based on our latest analysis, we decided to reduce the footprint of our mission in Iraq.”
Speaking at the Kennedy Center, US President Donald Trump told reporters Americans were advised to leave the region “because it could be a dangerous place, and we’ll see what happens”.
Trump also reiterated that the US did not want Iran to develop a nuclear weapon. “We’re not going to allow that,” he said.
The president has hoped to strike a deal to stop Tehran developing a nuclear weapon.
Inside the MAGA vs. hawk battle to sway Trump on bombing Iran
By Rachael Bade and Felicia Schwartz
Jun 10, 2025
Trump allies are trying to counter a private pressure campaign to ditch Steve Witkoff’s diplomatic effort and join Israel in attacking Tehran.
An influential group of GOP hawks has launched a behind-the-scenes lobbying offensive pressing President Donald Trump to not only back off his administration’s quest for a nuclear deal with Iran, but greenlight an attack on Tehran by Israel.
The campaign is raising alarms among Trump and his allies, who have launched a counteroffensive to keep the president’s diplomacy on track.
During a private lunch with the president at the White House last Wednesday, conservative talk show host Mark Levin told Trump that Iran was days away from building a nuclear weapon, an argument Trump’s own intelligence team has told the president is not accurate, according to an intelligence official as well as another Trump ally familiar with the matter. Levin urged Trump to allow the Israeli government to strike Iranian nuclear sites, which Trump has told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would torpedo the diplomacy.
‘All US bases within our reach’: Iran responds to threats from Washington
Jun 11, 2025
Iran’s Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh said on 11 June that Tehran will strike US military bases in the region if nuclear talks fail and Washington decides to launch an attack on the Islamic Republic.
“Some officials on the other side threaten conflict if negotiations don’t come to fruition. If a conflict is imposed on us … all US bases are within our reach and we will boldly target them in host countries,” Nasirzadeh said during a press conference, warning the US to “leave the region” in the “case of any conflict.”
“We have made very good progress in defense affairs. Our operational forces are fully equipped,” the defense minister added, revealing that Iran recently tested a missile with a two-ton warhead. “[If] a conflict is imposed on us, the casualties of the other party will definitely be much heavier than ours,” he went on to say.
The comments came in response to escalating threats from Washington, coinciding with increased tension in nuclear talks between Iran and the US.
When asked at a hearing of the House of Representatives on Tuesday if Washington is prepared to “respond with overwhelming force to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran,” the chief of US Central Command (CENTCOM) said he has “provided the secretary of defense and the president a wide range of options.”
US President Donald Trump said on the same day in an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier that Iran has become “much more aggressive” in nuclear talks. “They’re just asking for things you can’t do. They don’t want to give up what they have to give up,” adding that it is “disappointing” because “the alternative is a very, very dire one.”
Trump said in an interview published on 11 June that he was “less confident” in the ability to reach a deal.
Iran has rejected a new US proposal that would significantly constrain its ability to enrich uranium, and has said it will soon put forward a counteroffer. A new round of talks is set to take place in the coming days.
IAEA an ‘instrument for Israel,’ secret documents seized by Iran reveal
Jun 10, 2025
Iranian media says the documents show that Tehran’s confidential letters to the IAEA were passed on to Israel
The thousands of sensitive documents on Israel’s nuclear program, which Tehran said its intelligence managed to obtain, reveal direct cooperation between Tel Aviv and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) against Iran, according to an Iranian media report.
“These documents clearly show that instead of playing a neutral role, the IAEA has become an instrument serving the objectives of the Zionist regime,” Fars news agency cited an informed source as saying on 10 June.
The documents prove that “Iran’s official and confidential letters to the IAEA – containing sensitive information – were channeled to the espionage agencies of the Zionist regime through covert conduits,” the report added.
The report also notes that several top Iranian nuclear scientists ended up getting assassinated due to their names being disclosed by the IAEA.
The chief of the UN nuclear watchdog Rafael Grossi said on Monday that “We have seen some reports in the press. We haven’t had any official communication about this.”
“In any case, this seems to refer to Soreq, which is [an Israeli nuclear] research facility which we inspect by the way. We don’t inspect other strategic parts of the program, but this part of the program we do inspect,” he added.
This was the first outside confirmation of Iran’s claim that it seized a vast amount of sensitive Israeli nuclear documents.
Soreq is an Israeli nuclear research facility south of Tel Aviv that was established in 1958.
Under Israel’s agreement with the watchdog, the IAEA monitors Soreq but has zero access to the Israeli nuclear facility at Dimona, which is believed to provide fuel for Tel Aviv’s undeclared nuclear weapons program.
According to a confidential IAEA report on Iran seen by Reuters, the watchdog has “conclusive evidence of highly confidential documents belonging to the Agency having been actively collected and analyzed by Iran.”
“Here, unfortunately, and this dates to a few years ago … we could determine with all clarity that documents that belong to the agency were in the hands of Iranian authorities, which is bad. We believe that an action like this is not compatible with the spirit of cooperation,” Grossi said at a press conference on 10 June.
When asked if these were originally Iranian documents seized by Israel and handed over to the IAEA, Grossi said, “No. We received documents from member states, and also, we have our own assessments on documents, on equipment, etc.”
The Iranian intelligence operation was initially announced in Iranian media on Saturday.
Sources told state broadcaster IRIB that “The sheer volume of the materials and the need to securely transfer the entire shipment into the country necessitated a period of media silence,” adding that the documents have reached “secure locations.”
IRIB said the brief marked a significant setback for Israel.
“The transfer of this treasure trove was time-consuming and required security measures. Naturally, the transfer methods will remain confidential, but the documents should be unveiled soon,” the Islamic Republic’s Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib told Iranian television on 8 June.
“Talking of thousands of documents would be an understatement,” Khatib went on to say. The “vast collection of strategic and sensitive [Israeli] documents” includes “plans and data on [Israel’s] nuclear facilities,” according to the intelligence minister.
Iran Prepares Missile Barrage If Israel Strikes – Report
Svetlana Ekimenko Jun 12, 2025
Israel is fully prepared to launch an operation against Iran and has already briefed US officials, CBS News reported earlier. It added that anticipating potential Iranian retaliation, particularly against American targets in Iraq, the US has advised some citizens to leave the region.
Iranian military and government leaders have already met to plan their response to a possible Israeli strike, The New York Times reports.
A barrage of hundreds of ballistic missiles will be launched at Israel without hesitation, a senior Iranian official warned.
Iranian officials also reacted to remarks by US General Michael E. Kurilla, the head of Central Command, as he testified before a House committee that he had presented Donald Trump with “a wide range of options” for a potential strike against Iran.
Le scénario d’une guerre américano-israélienne contre l’Iran, probablement avec l’utilisation d’armes nucléaires, selon la planification des forces armées américaines (http://www.defenddemocracy.press/the-iran-plans/) n’est pas un accident, une aberration, un caprice personnel. C’est le produit organique et systémique de l’impérialisme occidental et israélien. C’est pourquoi la guerre aura lieu finalement, si d’énormes forces politiques ne prennent pas conscience très rapidement des enjeux et ne se mobilisent pas, à l’intérieur de l’Etat américain, de la Russie, de la Chine et de l’opinion publique mondiale pour arrêter un tel désastre global.
Nous publions ici des extraits de deux articles sur le sujet d’une guerre avec l’Iran écrits en 2006 et 2007. Nous pensons qu’ils prouvent ce que nous avons dit plus haut, c’est-à-dire le caractère systémique et organique du danger de guerre.
GUERRE A LA GUERRE
Utopie critique : nοus republions ci-dessous des extraits de deux articles, qui restent d’actualité, sur la politique des Usa envers l’Iran et la possibilité d’une guerre nucléaire qui semble réapparaître aujourd’hui avec la menace d’une escalade guerrière entre les Usa et l’Iran.
Iran is now the key to the world situation
By Dimitris Konstantakopoulos
In my previous article on Syria I argued that there is a “Damascus-Tehran (not forgetting Lebanon and Palestine) train that is now preparing to depart”.
The ink on the article did not have time to ‘dry’, so to speak, since no ink is used anymore, and the train started to whistle for departure.
The Prime Minister of Israel himself, after congratulating himself for the “triumph” in Syria, rushed to address a speech in English to the citizens of Iran, promising “regime change” much sooner than he thought, with the help of Israel itself of course. Judging by what happened in Syria, we can imagine what fate awaits the Iranians and their country if these plans come to fruition.
According to the Times of Israel, the Israeli armed forces have already begun preparations for an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, considering that, after the destruction of Syria, a “window of opportunity” has been created. Netanyahu accused Iraq and Iran as early as 1992 (!) of being ready to build nuclear weapons, accusations that were never proven, rather the opposite, but served as an excuse for the US-British invasion of Iraq, of which he himself was the architect. In an attempt perhaps to restrain Israel’s hotheads, CIA chief William Burns stressed last October that there was no sign of a change in Tehran’s decision not to build nuclear weapons. Similar assessments have been made by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the US Pentagon.
Of course Israel wants to destroy Iran’s nuclear programme. But as in the case of Iraq, the alleged existence or preparation to acquire nuclear weapons serves as a pretext. The real aim is to overthrow the regime in Iran, if not to dismember that country, in accordance with the Yinon and Cohen strategies and the neoconservative Middle East war programme drawn up under the supervision of the current Israeli Prime Minister.(see for example the important article by the distinguished Columbia University Professor Jeffrey Sachs, the article and Ekaterina Matoi’s article on the geopolitics of Zionism)
Besides, the constant aggression and threats against Iran tend to act as a “self-fulfilling prophecy” that may eventually push Iran to build nuclear weapons.
The American factor
Mr. Netanyahu knows, however, that Israel’s forces are not sufficient for such a purpose. Despite Israeli triumphalism, despite Israel’s great recent successes, Iran remains a powerful military force and a serious state. No one can be sure what an attack on it will mean and what the results of an attack on it will be.
We remind our readers that publication of articles on our site does not mean that we agree with what is written. Our policy is to publish anything which we consider of interest, so as to assist our readers in forming their opinions. Sometimes we even publish articles with which we totally disagree, since we believe it is important for our readers to be informed on as wide a spectrum of views as possible.
