JBizNewsUS tells Israel it will send dozens more refueling planes amid Ben-Gurion crowding crisis - report
The Trump administration told Israel it is sending dozens more refueling planes to Israel ahead of a potential expansion of military operations against Iran, Axios reported on Friday, citing three US and Israeli officials.
While US President Donald Trump has not yet made a final decision on whether or not he wants to launch a larger offensive in Iran, he is considering several options, including striking Iranian infrastructure, including power plants, targeting Iranian nuclear facilities in order to further bury Iran’s enriched uranium, and striking the Pickaxe Mountain nuclear site where a suspected nuclear facility is being built, according to the report.
US forces destroyed at least seven bridges in southern Iran in a wave of strikes early Friday morning, targeting infrastructure around the city of Bandar Abbas, which a US official told Axios is considered a hub for Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) operations.
Tensions over space at Ben-Gurion Airport rise
According to Israeli officials, the US military prefers having the refueling planes operate from Ben-Gurion Airport as it is less exposed to Iranian attacks than other bases in the region, Axios wrote.
However, the US has about 30 planes currently at Ben-Gurion Airport, which has already become an issue for Israel, with the Transportation Ministry and the Israel Airports Authority warning that without relocating the planes, thousands of flights and some 50,000 tickets may need to be canceled.
Transportation Minister Miri Regev demanded that the refueling aircraft be removed and that their number be limited to 20, in order to prevent harm to the civilian flight schedule at the height of the summer vacation.
The IDF, with the backing of IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, opposed moving the aircraft to Air Force bases in the Negev.
While the Transportation Ministry announced on Wednesday that a solution had been reached in which 10 planes would be relocated, US sources stated on Thursday that the alternative locations would not meet the needs of the US military.