Gen. Dan Caine confirmed on 1 April that CENTCOM has begun flying B-52 Stratofortress bombers on overland missions inside Iran, lifting a 30-day restriction to standoff-only strikes. Bunker-busters had struck Isfahan ammunition depots the previous night, and the B-52 overland authorisation signals that the degradation of Iran's air defences has now crossed the threshold that makes large, slow aircraft survivable.
The B-52 is not a stealth aircraft. Flying one over hostile territory is a statement: CENTCOM has suppressed Iranian air defences sufficiently that it can send the most visible aircraft in its inventory over Iranian territory and expect it to survive. The shift from standoff to overland dramatically increases ordnance per sortie. A B-52 carries roughly 70,000 lbs of bombs versus approximately 18,000 lbs for an F-35. With 200 dynamic strikes logged on Monday alone, CENTCOM has the targeting intelligence and the delivery capacity to accelerate the campaign.
CENTCOM had already logged 9,000 targets through Day 25 and reported 10,000-plus targets struck with 92% of Iran's largest naval vessels destroyed before today's confirmation. The B-52 authorisation is the operational expression of that accumulated attrition.
The SOF deployment compounds the picture. Hundreds of Navy SEALs and Army Rangers, options including seizing Kharg Island (which handles 90% of Iran's oil exports), and 3,500 Marines aboard USS Tripoli are assets relevant to a ground phase, not a withdrawal. The Pentagon had drawn up Kharg seizure plans weeks ago. The tactical picture and Trump's victory speech describe two different wars.
