F-22 jets deploy at Israeli Air Force base as US builds up forces for Iran strike

American F-22 stealth fighter jets were deployed at an Israeli Air Force base in southern Israel on Tuesday, as part of the United States’s massive buildup of military forces in the Middle East, The Times of Israel has learned.

The jets were stationed at an airbase in the United Kingdom in recent days, according to open-source flight tracking data and aircraft spotters, and were seen taking off earlier on Tuesday.

Their arrival in Israel is another step in the amassing of American aircraft in the region as tensions between Iran and the US threaten to erupt into war.

Negotiations between the two countries over the Iranian nuclear program are ongoing, and the sides are due to meet on Thursday in Geneva. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has reportedly gotten the green light for a counterproposal to submit to the American negotiating team.

But US President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened that he will attack Iran if those talks fail. Iran has vowed to strike Israel and US targets in the region in response.

Israeli officials are said to believe that a US strike is inevitable, and top military brass from the two countries have reportedly been in contact. One official quoted by Channel 12 news on Tuesday said that a diplomatic resolution to the conflict would be the “surprise of the year.”

Aircraft gather in Israel; White House threatens ‘lethal force’

Against that backdrop, a total of 12 F-22s were seen taking off from Royal Air Force Lakenheath in England, although one reportedly returned to the airbase due to a technical issue.

The stealth fighters had arrived at Lakenheath last week and remained there for several days, reportedly due to issues with their accompanying refuelers.

The F-22, operated exclusively by the US Air Force, is the world’s most advanced air-superiority fighter, built for unmatched speed, maneuverability, and stealth in air-to-air combat.

The deployment of US fighter jets at Israeli airbases for operational activities — rather than for joint training with the IAF — is extremely rare.

First 3 of 12 F-22 Raptors departing RAF Lakenheath pic.twitter.com/qo7E0Ffu8O

— Glenn (@TallGlenn85) February 24, 2026

In total, dozens of fighter jets — including F-35s, F-22s, F-15s, and F-16s — have been spotted heading to the Middle East in recent days by the Military Air Tracking Alliance, a team of about 30 open-source analysts that routinely analyzes military and government flight activity.

The team says it’s also tracked dozens of accompanying fuel tankers, as well as hundreds of cargo flights, heading into the region since mid-February. On Monday, American refueler and cargo planes were spotted at Ben Gurion Airport.

The jets are part of a historic gathering of US forces reported to be the largest in the region since the US invaded Iraq in 2003. On Monday, Trump denied that his top general, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, had expressed reservations about a strike.

“General Caine, like all of us, would like not to see War but, if a decision is made on going against Iran at a Military level, it is his opinion that it will be something easily won,” Trump wrote.

On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Trump’s “first option is always diplomacy,” but added: “As he has shown, he is willing to use the lethal force of the United States military if necessary.”

She stressed that Trump will be the one who decides what course of action to take against Iran. Recent reports have suggested that Trump is considering an initial limited strike on Iran, though he is also said to be frustrated by the assessments of what a US strike could achieve.

“I’ve seen a lot of sensationalist reporting over the past day that is just completely untrue,” Leavitt said. “And anyone speculating to the media, hiding behind an anonymous source, pretending to know what President Trump is thinking or a decision he will make with respect to action against Iran, has no idea what they’re talking about.”

Meanwhile, as protests have sprung up again in Iran, the CIA published a video in Persian explaining how Iranian dissidents can securely contact the US intelligence agency.

The video walks viewers through several steps that should be taken to ensure that any contact with the CIA from within Iran will be kept private and to ensure that the identity of the dissident cannot be found out.

It suggests that anyone wishing to contact the CIA should do so from a burner device and using the most up-to-date version of their internet browser of choice.

Iran holds drill as its officials stress commitment to talks

One of the main impasses in the talks concerns Iran’s nuclear enrichment. Trump is demanding that Iran cease all enrichment, while the Iranians are insisting on their right to continue.

On Tuesday, Iranian officials stressed their commitment to diplomacy. In a series of social media posts, Foreign Minister Araghchi said that “a deal is within reach, but only if diplomacy is given a priority.”

“Pillared on the understandings forged in the previous round, Iran will resume talks with the US in Geneva with a determination to achieve a fair and equitable deal—in the shortest possible time,” Araghchi wrote, reiterating that while Iran “will under no circumstances ever develop a nuclear weapon,” it refuses to give up its rights to “peaceful nuclear technology.”

Channel 12 reported that Araghchi has received approval from Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on a draft counterproposal ahead of Thursday’s talks. The US reportedly views those talks as a final chance at harnessing diplomatic momentum instead of choosing to confront Iran militarily. The draft has reportedly not been seen yet by the US team.

Iran, which openly seeks Israel’s destruction, has consistently denied seeking nuclear weapons but enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities, and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities. The US struck Iran’s nuclear facilities in June, at the end of the 12-day Israel-Iran war.

Alongside the pledges to continue diplomacy, the ground forces of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps held military drills on the country’s southern coast, state TV reported. Iran has stepped up its military drills in the area in recent days, and footage broadcast by the Fars outlet showed troops using drones, mortars and missiles to attack ships off the coast and targets on the shore, while amphibious vehicles carried out drills in the surf.

???????? The IRGC Ground Forces demonstrated a show of power with controlled fire drills, using weapon-range precision and modern multi-layered tactics. The large-scale exercise, centered at Madinah Headquarters, covered southern coasts and Iranian islands. pic.twitter.com/1RyCAKJOxw

— Sprinter Press (@SprinterPress) February 24, 2026

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi told state media on Tuesday that the Islamic Republic “will do whatever it takes” for talks to succeed. But he added: “If there is an attack or aggression against Iran, we will respond according to our defense plans… A US attack on Iran is a real gamble.”

Israeli officials say US strike ‘unavoidable’ — report

Israeli political and military officials do not appear to be putting much stock in the talks, and believe a US strike on Iran is “unavoidable,” according to Channel 12. The report said they are warning American counterparts against allowing the talks with Iran to drag on or result in a poor deal.

“It will be the surprise of the year if Iran agrees to a real diplomatic solution,” one senior Israeli official was quoted by the Hebrew network as saying, adding that “if [Iran] will submit to US demands [in the nuclear talks] it will go against the entire spirit of this regime. But it will be no less surprising if the Americans agree to a stalling and deceptive deal.”

In conversations over recent days between IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir and US Joint Chiefs of Staff head Caine, Zamir presented a range of military options from Israel’s perspective, warning that “any agreement [with Iran] will be an insurance policy for the Iranian regime.”

Senior Israeli officials are pushing to carry out a forceful attack that will make Iran cautious or incapable of retaliating harshly against the US or Israel, Channel 12 reported.

In a potential sign of preparations for such a strike, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Shin Bet intelligence agency leadership that Israel is working to create its own regional alliance to oppose axes led by Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood.

The emerging alliance “includes many countries,” Netanyahu told a conference of the intelligence agency’s leadership. “Some visit us, even these days. Some — we visit them. I am talking about an entire circle that encompasses the Middle East.”