The U.S. military has deployed half a dozen nuclear-capable stealth bombers on a tiny British island in the Indian Ocean within striking distance of both Iran and Yemen.

Satellite imagery from Planet Labs PBC revealed the deployment of at least six B-2 Spirit bombers to Camp Thunder Bay on the island of Diego Garcia, the largest island of the Chagos Archipelago, according to the Associated Press.

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The six B-2 bombers on the island make up about a third of the United States’s entire stealth bomber fleet. They would likely be involved in an attack against Iran’s underground nuclear facilities because they can carry the GBU-57 massive ordnance penetrator bombs, which are designed to penetrate deep into the earth.

“The United States and its partners remain committed to regional security in the [U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility] and are prepared to respond to any state or non-state actor seeking to broaden or escalate conflict in the region,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said on Tuesday. “[Secretary of Defense Pete] Hegseth continues to make clear that, should Iran or its proxies threaten American personnel and interests in the region, the United States will take decisive action to defend our people.”

The U.S. military is currently carrying out an aggressive campaign against the Yemen-based Houthis, while President Donald Trump has threatened to go to war with Iran if the leaders in Tehran decline his request to restart negotiations on their nuclear program.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the U.S. has conducted about 200 strikes since the campaign began on March 15.

Hegseth directed the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group to remain in the Middle East and ordered the USS Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group to sail to the CENTCOM area of responsibility once it completes a scheduled exercise in the Indo-Pacific, Parnell said.

The secretary also ordered the deployment of additional squadrons and other air assets to the region.

Just days ago, Trump said Iran would face “bombing the likes of which they have never seen before” if Tehran did not reach an agreement. Iran rejected direct negotiations, with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also saying the U.S. would receive a “strong reciprocal blow” if an attack were to occur.

The Houthis are one of Iran’s several proxies in the Middle East, and the president has warned that additional Houthi attacks would be viewed as coming from Iran.

“Stop shooting at U.S. ships, and we will stop shooting at you. Otherwise, we have only just begun, and the real pain is yet to come, for both the Houthis and their sponsors in Iran,” Trump posted.

The Houthis began firing missiles and drones at commercial shipping vessels transiting the frequently used waterways off Yemen’s coasts in the aftermath of the start of the Israel-Hamas war in late 2023. They fired at dozens of ships, pushing commercial companies to reroute their vessels around the southern tip of Africa instead of cutting through the Suez Canal, a much longer and more expensive route.

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Houthi leaders claimed they were carrying out the attacks in solidarity with Palestinians.

The U.S. and U.K. militaries carried out several iterations of strikes in 2024 but were unable to get the Houthis attacks to stop.