US stealth bombers head over Pacific as Trump mulls Iran strikes

US stealth bombers were flying on Sunday across the Pacific Ocean, according to tracking data and media reports, fuelling speculation over their intended mission as US 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 refuelling 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 13,607kg warhead capable of penetrating 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.

A B-2 Spirit multi-role bomber conducting air refueling operations with a KC-135 Stratotanker over the Pacific Ocean. Photo / file

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 Sunday evening to hold an unspecified “National Security Meeting”.

The president said on Saturday Iran had a “maximum” of two weeks to avoid possible US airstrikes, indicating he could take a decision before the fortnight deadline he had announced a day earlier.

Israel strikes Hezbollah

Earlier, Israel’s military said its Navy hit a Hezbollah “infrastructure site” near the southern Lebanese city of Naqoura, a day after Israel’s foreign minister warned the Lebanese armed group against entering the Iran-Israel war.

“...an Israeli Navy vessel struck a Hezbollah ‘Radwan Force’ terrorist infrastructure site in the area of Naqoura in southern Lebanon,” the military said in a statement.

The military said the site was used by Hezbollah “to advance terror attacks against Israeli civilians”.

In a separate statement on Saturday, the military said it had “struck and eliminated” a Hezbollah militant in south Lebanon the previous day, despite an ongoing ceasefire between both sides.

In a statement carried by the official National News Agency, Lebanon’s health ministry said late on Friday that one person was killed in a “strike carried out by an Israeli enemy drone on a motorcycle” in the same south Lebanon village.

The November ceasefire aimed to end hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, which sparked months of deadly hostilities by launching cross-border attacks on northern Israel in solidarity with Palestinian ally Hamas after its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

Lebanon’s army, which has been dismantling Hezbollah infrastructure as part of the truce, said earlier in June that the Israeli military’s ongoing violations and “refusal to co-operate” with the ceasefire monitoring mechanism “could prompt the [Lebanese] military to freeze co-operation” on site inspections.

- Agence France-Presse