US moves B-2 stealth bombers capable of carrying ‘bunker-busting’ bombs as Israel hits nuclear reactor and Iran’s supreme leader names successor: LIVE UPDATES

By ELIZABETH HAIGH

Published: 14:53 BST, 21 June 2025 | Updated: 15:28 BST, 21 June 2025

The US has moved B-2 stealth bombers capable of carrying ‘bunker-busting’ bombs as President Trump continues to debate joining Israel in strikes on Iran.

It comes as Israel hit a nuclear enrichment site in Isfahan, Iran, for the second time since conflict between the two Middle Eastern countries broke out on June 13.

After a number of senior military and scientific figures in Iran were killed by Israeli strikes, Iran’s supreme leader has named possible successors in case he is assassinated.

And Saeed Izadi, who led the Palestine Corps of the Quds Force, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ overseas arm, was killed in a strike in an apartment in the Iranian city of Qom, said Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz.

Calling his killing a ‘major achievement for Israeli intelligence and the Air Force’, Katz said in a statement that Izadi had financed and armed the Palestinian militant group Hamas ahead of its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which triggered the war in Gaza.

BREAKING B-2 stealth bombers capable of carrying ‘bunker-busting’ bombs on the move

Six of the US’s B-2 stealth bombers from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri appear to be en route to a US air force base in Guam, flight tracker data suggests.

The movement of the jets is sigificant as Israel continues its bombing campaign against Iran targeting nuclear and military targets.

The US is the only nation thought to have the ‘bunker-busting’ bombs that would be needed to damage Iran’s deepest nuclear facility, the Fordo plant.

The bombers refueled after launching from Missouri, suggesting they launched without full fuel tanks due to a heavy onboard payload, which could be

Where are the American planes headed?

Six B-2 bomber planes are reported to have left the US from a base in Missouri.

They are understood to be on their way to Andersen Air Force base in Guam, which is in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Why are B-2 bombers so significant?

The B-2 stealth bomber is capable of carrying a 30,000-pound bomb, which experts have concluded could be the only way to destroy Iran’s most heavily fortified nuclear site: Fordo.

The bomb, known as the GBU-57 or the Massive Ordinance Penetrator, is something only the US military possesses.

The Fordo fuel enrichment plant is buried deep within a mountain system in Iran, but experts don’t know exactly how deep, which complicated a potential US mission to neutralize it.

Experts who spoke to The New York Times believe the facility at its shallowest is 250 feet deep, but could be as much as 30 feet deeper.

Nonetheless, GBU-57 is the only way to assuredly wipe out the facility, short of using a nuclear device.

Israel targets nuclear site for second time

Early Saturday, smoke could be seen rising from an area near a mountain in Isfahan, where a local official said Israel had attacked the nuclear research facility in two waves.

The target was two centrifuge production sites, and the attacks came on top of strikes on other centrifuge production sites elsewhere in recent days, according to an Israeli military official speaking on condition of anonymity under army guidelines to brief reporters.

It was the second attack on Isfahan, which was hit in the first 24 hours of the war as part of Israel’s goal to destroy the Iranian nuclear program.

Akbar Salehi, Isfahan province’s deputy governor for security affairs, confirmed the Israeli strikes had caused damage to the facility but said there had been no human casualties.

Iran launched a new wave of drones and missiles at Israel but there were no immediate reports of significant damage, and the Israeli official called it a ‘small barrage’ that was largely intercepted by Israel’s defenses.

‘Iranian spy posing as British tourist’ is arrested for spying on RAF base

An alleged member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards who claimed he was a British tourist has been arrested on terror charges as he is accused of spying on a British RAF base in Cyprus.

The individual, from Azerbaijan, was arrested by the country’s Anti-Terrorism Squad after receiving intelligence he was planning an imminent terrorist attack from a cooperating foreign service, sources claim.

The man is accused of having the British RAF military base in nearby Akrotiri under surveillance since mid-April, as well as Cyprus’s own Andreas Papandreou Air Base in the western region of Paphos, which is currently also being used by the US. Sources say he was planning an immediate terrorist attack.

Two further arrests linked to the case are said to have been made in the UK in an operation that involves intelligence services, Europol and Interpol.

84 Squadron is based at the British RAF base in Akrotiri, with extra British Typhoon planes being sent to the island in recent weeks as tensions ratchet up across the Middle East.

US will ‘only join Israel in Iran strikes if bunker buster bombs guaranteed to help’

Donald Trump this week told defence officials it would only make sense for the US to join Israel in striking Iran if its ‘bunker buster’ bombs are guaranteed to be able to destroy the key enrichment site at Fordow, according to people familiar with the discussions.

Officials were said to have been told that the US would have to soften the ground with conventional bombs before dropping a tactical nuclear weapon from a B2 Bomber to completely destroy the site, believed to be some 90 metres underground.

He previously said he would give Iran a maximum of two weeks to get back to the negotiating table before possibly joining Israel in strikes.

Israel kills ‘October 7 mastermind’ and two other Iranian commanders in overnight strikes

Israel said on Saturday it had killed a veteran Iranian commander as the countries traded attacks, a day after Tehran said it would not negotiate over its nuclear programme while under threat and Europe tried to keep peace talks alive.

Saeed Izadi, who led the Palestine Corps of the Quds Force, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ overseas arm, was killed in a strike in an apartment in the Iranian city of Qom, said Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz.

Calling his killing a ‘major achievement for Israeli intelligence and the Air Force’, Katz said in a statement that Izadi had financed and armed the Palestinian militant group Hamas ahead of its October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, which triggered the war in Gaza.

The Revolutionary Guards said five of its members had been killed in attacks on Khorramabad, according to Iranian media reports that did not mention Izadi, who was on US and British sanctions lists. The IDF claims to have killed three Iranian commanders overnight.

Israel accused Izadi of being responsible for ‘military coordination between senior commanders in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Iranian regime, and key figures in the Hamas terror organization.’

The IDF added this was particularly the case before October 7, in which some 1,200 Israelis were killed in a suprise attack by terror group Hamas.

Izadi was said to have helped finance and arm the group as part of a plan to ‘destroy Isreal’.

Izadi, who is under US and British sanctions, was described by the Israeli military as ‘one of the main orchestrators of the October 7th massacre and one of the few people who knew about it in advance’. Iran denies any involvement.

Explosions heard in Iran as state says more than 400 killed

Several ‘powerful explosions’ were heard Saturday afternoon in southwestern Iran’s Ahvaz, the daily Shargh reported, on the ninth day of hostilities between the Islamic republic and Israel.

Ahvaz is the capital of Khuzestan province, which is situated on the Iraqi border and is Iran’s main oil-producing region. The Israeli military had previously announced it was striking ‘military infrastructure’ in the southwest.

It comes as Iran reported that more than 400 people have been killed in the country since June 13, with more than 50 of those being women and children.

Another 3,056 people have been injured, according to state media.

Meanwhile in Israel at least 24 people have been killed in retaliatory strikes.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has made the remarkable decision to name his potential successors in the event that he is assassinated.

Khamenei, who is hiding out in a bunker, picked an array of leaders to take over both his military and political duties if he is killed in Israeli airstrikes, the New York Times reports.

Tensions in the Mideast region have fired up in recent days – with both Iran and Israel launches barrages of strikes on one another as Donald Trump toys with the decision for US military intervention.

Israel has launched the largest military assault on Iran since the war in Iraq, intensifying the already fragile relationship between the two regions.

Officials told the New York Times that Khamenei is instructing the nation’s Assembly of Experts, the body of government overseeing the supreme leader, to choose his successor from the three names he provided.

Welcome to MailOnline’s live blog

Good afternoon and welcome to MailOnline’s live blog on the conflict in the Middle East.

We’ll be keeping you updated on all the latest news throughout the day.

:
US moves B-2 stealth bombers capable of carrying ‘bunker-busting’ bombs as Israel hits nuclear reactor and Iran’s supreme leader names successor: LIVE UPDATES

***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk