US Air Force Flies Strategic Bomber Over MidEast As 'Message To Iran'

The US Air Force flew a B-1B strategic bomber over key maritime chokepoints in the Middle East with allies, including Israel, amid ongoing tensions with Iran.

The B-1B Lancer bomber flew Saturday over the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all oil traded passes.

It also flew over the Red Sea, its narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait and Egypt's Suez Canal.

The Strait of Hormuz has been the scene of attacks on shipping which have been blamed on Iran over recent years, while the Red Sea has seen similar assaults amid an ongoing shadow war between Tehran and Israel.

The Islamic Republic has denied involvement in the attacks, though it has promised to take revenge on Israel for a series of attacks targeting its nuclear program.

Fighter jets from Bahrain, Egypt, Israel and Saudi Arabia flew alongside the bomber.

The flyover is the first in a pattern of such flights by nuclear-capable B-52 bombers since the Trump administration, as a show of force to Iran.

Biden sending a B1-B bomber into the region allows him to send "a clear message of reassurance" to regional allies, the US Air Force's Central Command said in a Twitter post.

Report by AP