The US Air Force’s heaviest bombers are expected to arrive at British bases within hours, suggesting that Donald Trump‘s mega-attack on Iran that he dubbed the ‘big one’ is imminent.
America’s stealth air fleet including its B-1s, B-2s and B-52s are said to be on their way to Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands and RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire.
The strategic bombers, costing up to $2billion each, can carry out long-range missions without detection while carrying the world’s most devastating missiles.
Sources have suggested that Saturday could be D-day for a new gigantic bombardment – exactly a week after America and Israel first attacked Iran as part of ‘Operation Epic Fury’.
The US President warned Iran this week that the ‘big one’ was coming, adding: ‘We haven’t even started hitting them hard. The big wave has not even happened’.
And US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said overnight that America will now use British RAF bases to ‘dramatically’ up its strikes on Iran after the Prime Minister allowed the Americans to launch defensive strikes from UK-US bases.
‘When we say more to come, it’s more fighter squadrons, it’s more capabilities, it’s more defensive capabilities, and it’s more bomber pulses more frequently’, Mr Hegseth said.
Experts believe some American bombers could drop the ‘Mother of All Bombs’, a 10-tonne explosive that creates 1,000ft holes in the ground, taking out tunnels and bunkers while simultaneously pulling infrastructures such as bridges down into the giant crater.
Last night he warned the Iranian soldiers to ‘surrender or die’ after US raids took out Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and much of his military leadership.
Military experts appear to agree that Trump’s ‘big one’ points to an escalation in US bombing sorties over Iran – and dropping its biggest bombs.
U.S. B-2 stealth bombers, armed with 2,000 lb. bombs, are among the planes getting ready to strike Iran with British bases set to be used for what are being dubbed ‘defensive strikes’
The damaged Presidential complex in Tehran where the US managed to kill Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB), pictured, known as the ‘Mother of All Bombs’, may now be dropped on Iran, experts have said
America’s army of Reaper drones carrying thousands of pounds of laser-guided bombs to carry our precision strikes will also increase sorties over Iranian cities. While Attacks from air craft carriers and missiles from US submarines are also expected.
As Trump laid into Sir Keir Starmer for delaying access to UK military runways around the world, including in Diego Garcia, Mr Hegseth said last night: ‘We got there’.
‘The amount of firepower over Iran and over Tehran is about to surge dramatically,’ Mr Hegseth warned.
The United States may choose to drop its largest non-nuclear weapon in the coming days and weeks.
It is known as the ‘Mother Of All Bombs’ – a play on ‘MOAB,’ an acronym that stands for ‘Massive Ordnance Air Burst.’
A crater left by the blast is believed to be more than 100ft wide. Anyone at the blast site is vaporised.
It has not been deployed in Iran having been used in Afghanistan in 2017.
President Trump has long told reporters at the White House how ‘very proud’ he is of it.
American B-2 bombers did drop similarly destructive GBU-57 bunker-busters on Iranian uranium enrichment sites in June 2025.
The MOAB causes surface-level, wide-area destruction, while the GBU-57 burrows deep into the earth before exploding.
Military experts have said that the ‘big one’ Trump has warned Iran will use America’s most destructive arsenal – and appears imminent.
Sascha Bruchmann, a research fellow for defence at the office of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in Bahrain, told the Daily Telegraph: ‘The big one is a sustained bombing campaign via the strategic bomber fleet, so the B-1s, the B-2s and the B-52s.
‘Last night, Centcom [US Central Command] said there was one B-1 bomber, and the night before there were four B-2s, who dropped heavier payloads, so 1,000 to 2,000lb bombs with some bunker-busting capabilities against those missile cities.
‘Now that there’s air dominance achieved, and we’ve seen US Reaper drones over cities, which you wouldn’t have if there were some kind of air defences’.
Iain Ballantyne, editor of Warships International Fleet Review magazine, told the newspaper: ‘The most obvious thing that President Trump may mean by “the big one” is some kind of MOAB – the “Mother of All Bombs”.’
He added that these terrifying air attacks would be ‘co-ordinated with the US navy unleashing not only the USS Gerald R. Ford but also the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike groups – both Tomahawk [missiles] from their destroyers and air wings – along with possible bombardments by submarines’.
US strikes on Tehran overnight saw smoke and flames ruse from the centre of the city
The scene following an US-Israeli airstrike near the Ferdowsi square in central Tehran, Iran, this week
Claims that RAF bases may soon be home to US came after Sir Keir Starmer relaxed access to US Air Force use of British bases.
But he insists that he is right not to have joined the attack on Iran.
Mr Starmer was branded delusional last night after insisting he has got a grip on the Middle East crisis.
At an emergency press conference in Downing Street, the Prime Minister claimed he was delivering ‘calm, level-headed leadership’.
But his relationship with Britain’s most important ally hit a new low as Donald Trump branded him a ‘loser’.
Sir Keir urged Mr Trump to ‘de-escalate’ the crisis and negotiate with what is left of Iran’s leadership. But the PM admitted that, despite the global crisis, he had not spoken to the US President for almost a week following their spectacular falling out.
He also faced a growing chorus of criticism from allies in the Middle East over the lack of preparations that has led to Cyprus looking for military support from France, Italy and Spain – rather than Britain – after an RAF base on the island was hit by an Iranian drone.
And, in further farcical scenes, the UK failed to get its first evacuation flight from Oman off the ground, despite other countries having no such issues ferrying their citizens to safety.
Shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel said Sir Keir was in denial, adding: ‘Never in the history of our great nation has a government been so feeble at a time when our people and allies are under assault’.
Sir Keir was stung into a public defence of his actions following days of criticism.
At a hastily arranged press conference, he accused President Trump of plunging the Middle East ‘into chaos’ with his attacks on Iran. He defended his decision to avoid taking any ‘offensive’ action against Tehran even after British bases were targeted.
Sir Keir suggested that the fallout from the conflict could go on for months, with potentially huge impacts on energy bills and the cost of living – and the possibility of a new refugee crisis.
He acknowledged that relatives of the tens of thousands of British citizens trapped in the war zone were ‘were ‘worried sick’ but said a mass evacuation ‘is not going to happen overnight’.
Kemi Badenoch said it was ‘shocking’ that party political considerations appeared to have played a part in determining the government’s response to the US.
Mrs Badenoch said the RAF should now join bombing raids aimed at taking out Iran’s ballistic missile launchers.
Nigel Farage said the government should have supported the US-Israeli attack on Iran ‘from day one’, adding: ‘If this war stops Iran from getting a nuclear bomb, it will have been worth it.’
The Reform UK leader said Sir Keir appeared to have been the victim of a ‘left-wing revolt’ by Mr Miliband which had left Britain ‘humiliated’ on the world stage.
President Trump stepped up his criticism of Sir Keir last night, telling the New York Post: ‘It was very disappointing – his performance, having to do with our tremendous attack on a hostile nation.
‘I was very surprised at Keir. Very disappointed.’
Mr Farage is reported to be off to Florida to meet Donald Trump in Florida.
But Sir Keir insisted that he had been right to refuse a request to allow the initial US bombing raids to be launched from Diego Garcia and RAF Fairford, in Gloucestershire.
The raids killed Iran’s Supreme Leader and dealt a devastating blow to the rogue state’s bid to build a nuclear bomb. But the PM has questioned their legality and suggested Mr Trump did not have a clear plan for once the bombing stops.
‘While the region has been plunged into chaos, my focus is providing calm, level-headed leadership in the national interest,’ he said.
‘That means deploying our military and diplomatic strength to protect our people. And it means having the strength to stand firm by our values and our principles – no matter the pressure to do otherwise.’
Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates are both said to have accused Sir Keir of doing too little to defend British interests and allies in the region. The Spectator magazine reported that senior figures in Jordan are ‘furious’ at the government. And Cyprus’s high commissioner publicly said he was ‘disappointed’ with the UK’s response.
The site of overnight Israeli airstrikes is pictured in the southern suburbs of Beirut on March 6
Sir Keir announced that Britain is sending another four Typhoon jets to Qatar.
And defence secretary John Healey visited Cyprus in a bid to mend fences with a country that feels it has become a target for Iran because of the presence of the British base at RAF Akrotiri.
Downing Street rejected suggestions the government failed to have enough military assets in the Middle East after the base was hit. Sir Keir said air defence capabilities had been ‘pre-deployed’ before the US assault began.
Ministers faced more embarrassment after admitting the warship earmarked to defend Britain’s Cyprus base might not arrive for a fortnight.
Keir Starmer finally ordered the deployment of HMS Dragon on Tuesday, amid fury that the crucial site had been left vulnerable to Iranian reprisals.
Instead, Greek, Spanish, French and Italian vessels have been covering to intercept missiles and drones in what critics have decried as an ‘humiliation’ for the UK.
HMS Dragon is still being prepared in dock at Portsmouth, and is not expected to leave until next week.
And Defence Secretary John Healey, who is on Cyprus, suggested that the delay could be even longer.