Dozens of US Refueling Planes Headed to Israel Amid Iran Tensions, Says Report

The U.S. plans to send additional aerial refueling planes to Israel amid considerations for a larger military campaign against Iran. President Trump is weighing options to escalate attacks on Iranian infrastructure and nuclear sites.

The United States has told Israel that it plans to send dozens of additional aerial refueling planes to the country. The move comes as President Trump weighs a much larger military campaign against Iran, one that could go far beyond the strikes currently taking place near the Strait of Hormuz, according to a report from Axios citing three American and Israeli officials.

Trump sat through a Situation Room briefing on Tuesday where military officials laid out several new options for expanding the war. According to the report, he is now considering a broader offensive that would hit Iran harder than anything seen so far in this round of fighting.

He has not signed off on anything yet. But according to the officials who spoke with the publication, he seems open to ramping up the pressure enough to force Iran’s leadership to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and agree to his terms on the country’s nuclear program. Officials said that a decision to escalate could come within days.

A U.S. official told Axios that American forces bombed at least seven bridges near Bandar Abbas, a city that serves as a key hub for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in the strait region. The official explained that ammunition, supplies and reinforcements typically move through Bandar Abbas on their way to other parts of the strait, which is why the area has become a focus of the campaign.

Iran has not sat still either. Iranian forces have stepped up attacks on U.S. bases in Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq and Kuwait.

Washington intends to send several dozen more of these aircraft in the coming days, which would bring the total back up to where it stood when the war first began. The U.S. military prefers keeping most of these planes at Ben Gurion specifically, since other bases in the region sit closer to potential Iranian strikes and offer less protection.

For now, Iran is still holding back from directly striking Israel, likely out of concern that doing so would trigger a heavy Israeli response.

“I can tell you only one thing, and I will say this to the leaders of Iran: Do not count on it being quiet if you attack us,” Netanyahu said. “Do not count on a rerun. Because it will not be a rerun, and that was already powerful enough. This will be a different event, much more powerful,” he added.