Earlier in the day, the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that B-52 bomber aircraft had conducted a second “presence patrol” in the Middle East, calling it a “key part of CENTCOM's defensive posture”.
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif took to Twitter on Sunday, addressing the official account of the outgoing US president with a denouncement of the B-52 bomber aircraft patrolling the Middle East.
Zarif's remarks followed the earlier US CENTCOM post about US B-52 bomber aircraft conducting what was described as a “second Middle East presence patrol of 2021 as key part of CENTCOM's defensive posture”.
CENTCOM said that the patrol is the fifth mission of its Bomber Task Force into the Middle East in the past several months.
Earlier, reports said that two US B-52s were spotted in Israeli airspace heading toward the Persian Gulf.
US military presence in the Middle East
The US military presence in the Middle East region has long prompted concern in Iran, as it has repeatedly demanded that Washington stop “extraterritorial adventurism” and refrain from what Tehran described as “policy of interfering and sowing division among the countries of the region”.
In December 2020, Iran denounced the United States for showing off power in the Persian Gulf when the American nuclear-powered submarine USS Georgia, accompanied by other vessels, crossed the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran has repeatedly…