TENSIONS in the Middle East ramped up further yesterday as B-2 stealth bombers left the US for a possible strike on Iran.
US president Donald Trump is believed to have signed off on a hit on the rogue state’s underground atomic plant at Fordow.
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It came after a British national suspected of spying for Iran was arrested near an RAF base on Cyprus.
Trump, who said on Thursday he would decide whether to join the offensive “within two weeks”, yesterday gave Israel free rein to continue attacking its enemy Iran.
Meanwhile, B-2 bombers took off from the US and were thought to be heading to the Andersen Air Force Base on the Pacific island of Guam.
The powerful B-2 Spirit is the only aircraft capable of delivering the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs needed to smash Iran’s atomic site at Fordow, south of Tehran.
Waves of attacks would be needed to destroy the plant, which is encased in steel under a mountain.
Iran’s 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is also said to be sheltering in a bunker as Israel targets military leaders and nuclear facilities in his country.
US officials last night said no orders had yet been given to move the B-2s beyond Guam.
But it ramped up more pressure on Khamenei to cut a deal — with Trump demanding Iran scrap its nuclear and ballistic missile plans.
Meanwhile, a suspected spy linked to Iran was arrested amid fears he was spearheading a massive attack on UK forces in Cyprus.
Sources said he was posing as a British tourist when he was detained near the RAF’s Akrotiri base with a large camera with telephoto lenses.
He was also found to have three mobile phones when armed officers swooped on Friday.
Police sources confirmed yesterday he was being held on suspicion of terror-related offences and espionage.
He is suspected to have links to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Police swooped on him in the Zakaki suburb of Limassol.
He has been in the country since April and is feared to have been mapping troops and jets.
The Foreign Office confirmed he was a British national who is understood to be of Azerbaijani descent.
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Akrotiri — where hundreds of British pilots, troops and back-up staff are based — is just 200 miles from Israel and well within range of Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal.
Britain and the US have been warned by Khamenei that their bases will be hit if their forces join Israel.
The suspect appeared before the Limassol District Court on Friday and was remanded in custody for eight days pending inquiries.
Cypriot sources said he was understood to have had the sprawling UK airbase “under surveillance” and also watched Cyprus’s own Andreas Papandreou Air Base in Paphos.
Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar yesterday also claimed Iran tried to carry out an attack on Israeli citizens in Cyprus.
Extra £3k in Persian MI5 jobs
By Dominik Lemanski
SPYMASTERS are offering £3,000 bonuses to recruit Persian speakers to tackle Iranian terror.
Persian Language Specialists at MI5 and MI6 will support investigations to block Tehran-backed assassins and kidnappers.
Recruits will be paid up to £44,818 with £3,000 a year extra on qualification.
An advert, which is also hiring for GCHQ, reads: “We’re looking for Persian linguists for a role that goes well beyond translation and transcription.
“You will be a significant asset in helping to safeguard the UK.”
In April last year, Iranian journalist Pouria Zeraati, 37, was stabbed in South West London, in an attack believed to have been ordered by Tehran.
It was not known if it was linked to the Brit’s arrest.
Cyprus has become a transit point for stranded travellers since Israeli airspace was shut at the start of Operation Rising Lion nine days ago.
Britain has upped the number of RAF Typhoons at Akrotiri and sent extra Voyager air-to-air refuellers.
British and US warjets have previously helped shoot down Iranian missiles fired at Israel.
But Sir Keir Starmer’s government has so far kept the RAF out of the war amid fears of further escalation.
Meanwhile, Israel continued to hammer Iran with air attacks on military and atomic sites — as well as top brass and nuclear scientists.
Israel Defence Forces’ biggest scalp yesterday was terror kingpin Saeed Izadi — the financial mastermind of the October 7 attacks which detonated the Middle East crisis.
Izadi, head of the Palestinian Division of Iran’s Quds Force, was killed in a strike on a “safe house” in the Iranian city of Qom.
The Israeli military’s Chief of General Staff Eyal Zamir said: “Izadi was one of the key figures involved in planning and executing the October 7 massacre. The blood of thousands of Israelis is on his hands.”
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The Israeli military later said it killed another commander of the Guards’ overseas arm, Benham Shariyari, in western Tehran.
He was said to be “responsible for weapons transfers from the Iranian regime to its proxies across the Middle East”.
An 11th nuclear scientist was also assassinated at a safe house located by Israeli intelligence.
Iran’s foreign minister said he will not negotiate while attacks continued.
But Trump hit back: “It’s very hard to make that request right now. Israel is doing well, in terms of war, and…Iran is doing less well.”
But he added: “We’re ready, willing and able and we’ve been speaking to Iran.”
Iran fired more missiles at Israel overnight which were intercepted amid reports of minimal damage.
Palestine marcher in ‘bottle hurl’ bust
By Eleanor Gunn
PRO-Palestine protester was arrested after a bottle was thrown at marchers supporting Israel in London yesterday.
His missile fell short but the suspect was chased down The Strand and detained, police said.
Thousands of pro- Palestine demonstrators chanted “Shame on you” as they passed a pro-Israel counter-protest on Waterloo Bridge.
Later, footage emerged seeming to show a protester in a keffiyeh scarf performing a Nazi salute.
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn addressed crowds.
He said politicians were seeking to “turn people who protest against the invasion of Iran or the occupation of Palestine into terrorists”.
Yesterday’s protests came as ministers draw up plans to ban group Palestine Action under anti-terror laws.
It came after two yobs from the group broke into RAF Brize Norton Oxfordshire on Friday and doused jets in paint