US readies its most lethal missiles as Iran war enters dangerous new phase

After the loss of two fighter aircraft, the US is positioning the bulk of its lethal long-range JASSM-ER missiles in readiness to strike Iran, reported Bloomberg.

In a primetime address earlier this week, Donald Trump vowed to bomb Iran hard enough to send the country "back to the Stone Age where they belong". Now, the US is preparing to deploy some of its most lethal long-range weapons to strike Iranian targets.

According to Bloomberg, the next phase of the US military campaign will commit nearly the entire inventory of stealthy JASSM-ER (Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range) cruise missiles, drawing from stockpiles deployed at strategic positions in the rest of the world.

The JASSM-ER, or Joint Air-to-Surface Missile-Extended Range, can strike targets more than 600 miles (965 km) away and is designed to hit from standoff distances to evade enemy air defences.

An order to pull the roughly $1.5 million missiles from stockpiles in the Pacific region was issued at the end of March, Bloomberg reported citing sources privy to the matter. Missiles from various facilities, including those on American soil, are being moved to US Central Command bases and to Fairford in the UK, which was browbeaten by Trump to allow the use of its bases for Iran ops.

Alongside the extended-range variant, about two-thirds of the shorter-range JASSM missiles -- which have a range of roughly 250 miles (402 km) -- have also been committed to the Iran war, according to the report.

The US has relied extensively on standoff weapons like the JASSM-ER to limit risk to personnel, but the strategy has reduced stockpiles meant for potential conflicts with more capable adversaries such as China.