Amid heightened tensions with Iran, the US has deployed a group of F-22 Raptor jets to Israel, in what appears to be the first time such aircraft has been sent, The New York Times reported. The F-22 is one of the most advanced US fighter jets. Flight tracking data and videos by plane spotters revealed a dozen of these aircraft taking off from their temporary station in the UK.
The latest batch adds to the continued military buildup in the Middle East by America as the nation engages in talks with Iran over the latter’s nuclear programme plans. The talks started on Thursday with both delegations in Geneva, Switzerland, and are being seen as a last-ditch effort to achieve diplomacy.
The arrival of Raptor jets happened two days before Thursday’s nuclear negotiations between the two sides, The NYT reported.
US officials said that some of these stealth jets had already arrived in Israel, while others were en route. These kinds of aircraft do not show up on consumer flight-tracking sites. However, The New York Times reviewed other data indicating the movements, including refuelling of tankers after leaving the UK, and flying over the Mediterranean on Tuesday afternoon.
The US Air Force has described the F-22 jets as those that “cannot be matched by any known or projected fighter aircraft”. It can attack targets both in the air and on the ground. When the US carried out airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites last August, President Donald Trump said that F-22s joined the bombers’ fleet and even entered the West Asian nation’s airspace, but no launches were detected.
The New York Times reported that many of these F-22 Raptor jets had only recently moved from the US to Royal Air Force Lakenheath, a base in England. They departed from the station early Tuesday afternoon, with several refuelling from a nearby base. One F-22 stealth jet returned to England later that day, the report added.
In addition to the latest jets, the US buildup in the Middle East includes two aircraft carrier strike groups and over 60 fighter jets, which are positioned at a Jordan base.
The US and Iran’s latest round of talks restarted this year with Oman acting as the mediator. While Tehran remains fixated on its stance that the talks should solely focus on nuclear negotiations, Washington is hell-bent on stopping the West Asian nation’s enrichment of uranium completely. According to the latest Reuters inputs, Omani Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi said that both sides will continue discussions on a “technical level” next week in Vienna, Austria.
