Satellite images show the changing stock of aircraft at Diego Garcia airbase. Photos: Planet Labs
Satellite images show the changing stock of aircraft at Diego Garcia airbase. Photos: Planet Labs
Satellite images show the changing stock of aircraft at Diego Garcia airbase. Photos: Planet Labs
Satellite images show the changing stock of aircraft at Diego Garcia airbase. Photos: Planet Labs

US bombers line up at Diego Garcia base as Iran strike looms


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The airbase that could be used to launch bunker-busting strikes on Iran has seen an influx of heavy American bombers and fighters.

Satellite images taken three days ago show the presence of four B-52s that can technically drop the 13,600kg GBU-57 bomb needed to penetrate Iran's underground nuclear network.

They were spotted by commercial satellite imagery company Planet Labs, and traces how the balance of aircraft at the base has changed as the situation in the Middle East deteriorated.

Six F-15 multirole warplanes have also arrived in recent days and would be used to protect the airbase from Iran drone or cruise missile attack.

Six KC-135 tankers are also there, giving America the option to refuel aircraft on the approach to Iran if required.

There is also the prospect that with aircraft movement into Diego Garcia remaining fluid, B-2 Spirit stealth bombers could also land there, having been spotted in recent months.

A satellite image of the Diego Garcia military base taken in April 2025. Photo: Planet Labs
A satellite image of the Diego Garcia military base taken in April 2025. Photo: Planet Labs

Diego Garcia, the largest of the Chagos Islands, has been used as the site of a joint UK-US military base since the 1970s due to its strategically important position in the Indian Ocean.

The UK recently signed a deal to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, with an agreement to lease Diego Garcia for £101 million each year for the next 99 years. Critics of the deal said the UK risks losing an important strategic presence in the Indian Ocean.

Diego Garcia would likely be used as a base for a “stand-off” attack on Iran, The National has been told.

“While they can drop the GBU-57, the fact they have to fly straight and level means that the B-52 would be sitting ducks if used over Iran,” said military aviation expert Tim Ripley. “But they carry 20 cruise missiles, which they can launch from a distance.”

The total value of the jets currently present is approaching $1.5 billion which contrasts with the $12 billion cost of the six B-2s that were at the base two months ago and appear to have been moved back to the US.

It is understood that they were there to be used against the Houthis in Yemen as part of America’s bombing campaign before a ceasefire was agreed.

They are the most expensive aircraft ever built and the only ones certified to drop GBU-57 bombs. Their departure makes it more likely that if US President Donald Trump decides to support Israel by attacking Iran’s Fordow nuclear facility hidden in a mountain, the strike will be launched from America.

The B-2s would fly from their Whiteman air force base in Missouri direct to the site near Qom − a distance of 11,200km distance. While that is at the very limit of their range, they will be able to receive air-to-air refuelling from tankers stationed in the Middle East and Europe.

The Diego Garcia deployment is part of a widespread movement of US warplanes into the region as the possibility of a US attack on Iran increases.

A fleet of more than 30 air-to-air refuelling tankers have crossed the Atlantic and are now stationed at airbases across Europe and the Middle East.

They have been joined by squadrons of F-22 and F-35 stealth fighters that will be on hand for a major air attack alongside the jets from what will soon be two US aircraft carriers in the region, once the USS Nimitz arrives from the Pacific.

A B-52 Stratofortress long-range bomber. Photo: US Air Force
A B-52 Stratofortress long-range bomber. Photo: US Air Force

But as the Diego Garcia base is a British overseas territory, permission would be required from London before any raid on Iran is undertaken.

The UK is likely to face domestic opposition to joining the US in the conflict. Prime Minister Keir Starmer held an emergency Cobra meeting upon his return to the UK from the G7 summit to discuss the UK's response to the crisis.

Attorney General Lord Richard Hermer reportedly raised concerns about the legality of the UK’s involvement, advising that the UK should limit this to “defensive” support.

However, Sir John Sawers, former head of MI6, on Thursday told the Chatham House think tank's London Conference that he did not see obstacles to a UK green light for use of the archipelago for an Iran mission.

“If American bombers do strike they will almost certainly do so from Diego Garcia,” he said. “We’ve just negotiated a long-term lease so there could be an American base on Diego Garcia. I don't see Keir Starmer saying, ‘oh, but you can't use it. I'm afraid’. I don’t see that.

“It’s very straightforward. They’ve got an American base there and whole purpose of Diego Garcia is so the Americans can use it when they need to use it.”

There are some concerns that further escalation with Iran would have the undesired effect of re-enforcing its nuclear ambitions. Former National Security Adviser Lord Peter Ricketts said the UK “should not” support potential US strikes on Iran.

“The only way we're going to control Iran's nuclear ambitions in the long term is by having a deal with them,” he said.

“I think just coming back and bombing them every few years is not going to make the world safer. In fact, it's going to reinforce their determination to keep working on a nuclear weapon when this round of fighting is over,” he said.

Tax authority targets shisha levy evasion

The Federal Tax Authority will track shisha imports with electronic markers to protect customers and ensure levies have been paid.

Khalid Ali Al Bustani, director of the tax authority, on Sunday said the move is to "prevent tax evasion and support the authority’s tax collection efforts".

The scheme’s first phase, which came into effect on 1st January, 2019, covers all types of imported and domestically produced and distributed cigarettes. As of May 1, importing any type of cigarettes without the digital marks will be prohibited.

He said the latest phase will see imported and locally produced shisha tobacco tracked by the final quarter of this year.

"The FTA also maintains ongoing communication with concerned companies, to help them adapt their systems to meet our requirements and coordinate between all parties involved," he said.

As with cigarettes, shisha was hit with a 100 per cent tax in October 2017, though manufacturers and cafes absorbed some of the costs to prevent prices doubling.

Five famous companies founded by teens

There are numerous success stories of teen businesses that were created in college dorm rooms and other modest circumstances. Below are some of the most recognisable names in the industry:

  1. Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg and his friends started Facebook when he was a 19-year-old Harvard undergraduate. 
  2. Dell: When Michael Dell was an undergraduate student at Texas University in 1984, he started upgrading computers for profit. He starting working full-time on his business when he was 19. Eventually, his company became the Dell Computer Corporation and then Dell Inc. 
  3. Subway: Fred DeLuca opened the first Subway restaurant when he was 17. In 1965, Mr DeLuca needed extra money for college, so he decided to open his own business. Peter Buck, a family friend, lent him $1,000 and together, they opened Pete’s Super Submarines. A few years later, the company was rebranded and called Subway. 
  4. Mashable: In 2005, Pete Cashmore created Mashable in Scotland when he was a teenager. The site was then a technology blog. Over the next few decades, Mr Cashmore has turned Mashable into a global media company.
  5. Oculus VR: Palmer Luckey founded Oculus VR in June 2012, when he was 19. In August that year, Oculus launched its Kickstarter campaign and raised more than $1 million in three days. Facebook bought Oculus for $2 billion two years later.
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Updated: June 19, 2025, 7:52 PM`