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Refueling build-up
The Trump administration notified Israel it will send dozens more aerial refueling aircraft as President Donald Trump considers expanding US military operations against Iran, according to Axios citing three US and Israeli officials.
“The Trump administration has notified Israel that it is sending dozens of additional military refueling aircraft”
The report said Trump reviewed several new military options during a Situation Room meeting on Tuesday, with proposals including strikes on Iranian infrastructure such as power plants and additional attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities aimed at burying enriched uranium deeper underground.
Axios also said options presented to Trump included a possible strike on the underground Pickaxe Mountain site, which US officials reportedly suspect is being developed as a nuclear-related facility.
The reports placed the current fighting in the Strait of Hormuz context, saying US forces carried out attacks on Iranian targets around the Strait of Hormuz and along Iran's southern coastline for a fifth consecutive day on Thursday.
The US currently operates around 30 military refueling aircraft at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv and a similar number at Ramon Airport in southern Israel, and Israeli officials told Axios Washington plans to send several dozen more aircraft in the coming days.
Bridges, bases, threats
A US official told Axios that American forces struck at least seven bridges around Bandar Abbas, describing the city as a key logistics hub for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps operations in the Strait of Hormuz.
The same Axios report said Iran intensified attacks targeting US military bases in Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq, and Kuwait, and that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed responsibility for an attack on a US base in Syria despite Axios noting American forces had withdrawn from that base several months earlier.
In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Tehran earlier this week, saying: "Do not count on it being quiet if you attack us. Do not count on a rerun."
The Jerusalem Post framed the refueling plan as part of a potential escalation, saying the Trump administration told Israel it is sending dozens more refueling planes ahead of a potential expansion of military operations against Iran.
The Jerusalem Post also tied the bridge strikes to Bandar Abbas, saying US forces destroyed at least seven bridges in southern Iran in a wave of strikes early Friday morning targeting infrastructure around the city.
Ben-Gurion crisis
The presence of dozens of US refueling aircraft at Ben Gurion Airport became a political issue inside Israel, with Axios reporting that the aircraft stationed there for months reduced airport capacity as commercial air traffic resumed.
“Miri Regev urged that the US aircraft be relocated from Ben Gurion Airport”
Axios reported that Transportation Minister Miri Regev urged that the US aircraft be relocated from Ben Gurion Airport or that their numbers be reduced, while the Israel Defense Forces and Israel's Defense Ministry opposed the proposal.
The Jerusalem Post said Transportation Minister Miri Regev demanded the refueling aircraft be removed and that their number be limited to 20 to prevent harm to the civilian flight schedule at the height of the summer vacation.
Ynetnews added that 10 additional U.S. Air Force refueling aircraft were expected to arrive Friday and Saturday, and that unlike previous waves, the new tankers would not be stationed at Ben Gurion Airport.
Ynetnews reported that more than 60 American refueling planes have arrived in Israel so far, including 33 parked at the country’s main international airport, and that a compromise was reached under which the additional aircraft would be stationed elsewhere.