AFAIK, the F-35 does not have the range to fly from Israel to Iran and back. So, either it’s a bogus story, or they took off and returned from a 3rd party country, or the Saudis painted their jets with Israeli markings.
Or they had a refueling plane accompanying them; but every country would see that on radar from 500 miles away. And even with in-flight refueling it’s a grueling trip of about 1200 miles each way.
[AFAIK, the F-35 does not have the range to fly from Israel to Iran and back. So, either it’s a bogus story, or they took off and returned from a 3rd party country, or the Saudis painted their jets with Israeli markings.]
Why does it matter? Because Azerbaijan is strategically located on Iran’s northern border and, according to several high-level sources I’ve spoken with inside the U.S. government, Obama administration officials now believe that the “submerged” aspect of the Israeli-Azerbaijani alliance — the security cooperation between the two countries — is heightening the risks of an Israeli strike on Iran.
In particular, four senior diplomats and military intelligence officers say that the United States has concluded that Israel has recently been granted access to airbases on Iran’s northern border. To do what, exactly, is not clear. “The Israelis have bought an airfield,” a senior administration official told me in early February, “and the airfield is called Azerbaijan.”]