President Donald Trump surprised many with his comment about holding direct talks with Iran, which coincided with the Pentagon flexing American military might by stationing B-2 bombers at a base in the Indian Ocean.
Satellite imagery has exposed the presence of six nuclear-capable B-2 bombers on Diego Garcia, a British-controlled naval facility that holds strategic importance in U.S. military operations.
This development occurred as the Pentagon intensified its airstrikes against the Iran-aligned Houthis, while Trump continually emphasized the imperative of preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
‘The movement of the aircraft to Diego Garcia definitely sends a signal to Iran about the extent to which they are in jeopardy, and the extent of seriousness the Trump administration feels with regard to its various demands,’ Daryl Press, the director of the Initiative for Global Security at Dartmouth College told ABC News.
The network analyzed commercial satellite imagery from Planet Labs PBC.
Trump on Monday said the U.S. would hold top level ‘direct’ talks with Iran – while brandishing new threats and repeating demands that Iran could not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.
‘We’re having direct talks with Iran. And they’ve started,’ Trump told reporters while seated in the Oval Office next to Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, himself a top Iran hawk.
The talks are set to take place in Oman, but Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, said the talks would be ‘indirect,’ amid longstanding tensions between the two nations.
‘Indirect negotiations can guarantee a genuine and effective dialogue,’ he told Iranian state news agency IRNA, Reuters reported.
Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC show six B-2 stealth bombers. The U.S. continues to pound Iran-backed Houthi rebels. The unconcealed presence of the powerful aircraft also send a message to Tehran, experts say
The disclosure came just days after Trump threatened Iran in remarks to NBC News. ‘If they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing. It will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before.’
If he were to order such a bombing campaign, the B-2 bombers are capable of launching bunker buster bombs and other munitions that could be used to take out Iran’s nuclear technology, which is often set up deep underground. The bombers are capable of carrying conventional and nuclear munitions.
On military blogger, Ken Klippenstein, quoted experts calling it the largest deployment of B-2s to a forward location. Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt, the former Deputy U.S. Military Representative to NATO, boiled it down to ‘do you see our sword?’
Over the weekend, Trump fired U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Shoshana Chatfield, the only female officer on NATO’s military committee, for unexplained reasons, the AP reported.
President Trump revealed that the U.S. would hold direct talks with Iran on Saturday
DailyMail.com has reached out to the Pentagon for comment on the deployment.
When speaking to reporters about Iran, Trump said the surprise meeting would take place Saturday, but refused to divulge where.
‘We’ll see what can happen,’ he said.
‘All I can tell you is there’s a major meeting going on,’ Trump said when pressed, adding that it would be ‘top level.’
The stakes are high. The U.S. has avoided such direct talks for years. The Iran nuclear deal, which Trump scuttled after it was put in place under Barack Obama, was negotiated through multi-party talks.
‘I think everybody agrees that doing a deal would be preferable to doing the obvious. And the obvious is not something that I want to be involved with, or frankly, that Israel wants to be involved with, if they can avoid it,’ he added. ‘So we are going to see if we can avoid it, but it’s getting to be very dangerous territory, and hopefully those talks will be successful.’
‘And I think it would be in Iran’s best interests if they are successful.’
Asked about the consequence if Iran refuses to give up its nuclear program, Trump responded: ‘I think if the talks aren’t successful with Iran, I think Iran is going to be in great danger.’
‘Because they can’t have a nuclear weapon. It’s not a complicated formula. Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon,’ Trump said.
‘If the talks aren’t successful, I actually think it’ll be a very bad day for Iran if that’s the case.’
They would be the first known direct talks since Trump pulled out of the agreement in 2018. Trump has repeatedly called it a ‘horrible’ and complained ‘we got nothing.’
Trump made the comments at a meeting that was being closely watched amid a global sell-off after he imposed an across-the-board 10% tariff and slapped additional tariffs on more than 60 countries.
Trump showed no indication of backing down on trade.
Trump did not reveal who was taking part in the talks. They would not occur without the support of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei
‘‘We’re not looking at that,’ Trump said when asked if he was considering a pause after the multi-trillion sell-off.
Trump fielded a series of questions from U.S. and Israeli reporters after cancelling a scheduled press conference planned for the East Room of the White House.
Instead, he revealed the talks on the high-pressure issue, inside the Oval Office facing new pressure on the tariffs. The White House has threatened to veto a Senate bill that would end the emergency designation that the White House cited to impose the tariffs.
Netanyahu was much less revealing on Iran, while confirming the two men discussed it.
‘We’re both United that Iran does not ever get nuclear weapons, if it could be done diplomatically in a full way, the way it was done in Libya, I think that would be a good thing,’ he said.
‘That’s the end of my speech,’ said Netanyahu after remarks that were brief.
At one point an Israeli reporter asked Trump to elaborate on how a new Iran deal was going to be ‘more effective than the JPOA’ – the Obama-era Iran deal that he ripped up.
‘Well, I can’t really say that, but I think it will be different and maybe a lot stronger,’ he said at first – before immediately pivoting to a temporary cease fire with Hamas to free hostages in Gaza.
‘But they were so happy when we made that first deal, because we did get a lot out. You know, I had people right in this office, this beautiful Oval Office. They came in, 10 people, hostages, you know that? And I said to him, so how was it and the stories they told me, I mean, as an example, I said to them, was there any sign of love?’
‘Did the Hamas show any signs of like help or liking you? Did they wink at you? Did they give you a piece of bread extra? Did they give you a meal on the side like you know, you think of doing like what happened in Germany? What happened elsewhere? People would try and help people that were in unbelievable distress. They said no.’
Netanyahu began the meeting by appeasing Trump’s trade complaints, after the U.S. slapped a 17 % tariff on imports from Israel.
‘We will eliminate the trade deficit with the United States. We intend to do it very quickly. We think it’s the right thing to do. And we’re going to also eliminate trade barriers, a variety of trade barriers, that have been put up unnecessarily. And I think Israel can serve as a model for many countries who ought to do the same,’ he said.
The tariffs had surprised the Israeli government, which signed an agreement the day prior to end tariffs on U.S. products. Israel exports about $22 billion annually to the U.S.
