The US Air Force on Thursday launched the second short-term deployment of B-52 heavy bombers to the Middle East in less than a month as part of efforts to deter potential hostile Iranian military activity as Washington reduces its military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The flight by two B-52 Stratofortress crews from Louisiana to the Levant comes less than two weeks after Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for retaliation for the assassination of a senior Iranian nuclear scientist in an attack officials in Tehran have blamed on Israel. The deployment also comes just shy of a year since the United States assassinated Iranian Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad.

The US Central Command is also moving forward with plans to reduce its presence in Afghanistan by roughly half and to pull some 500 of its 3,000 troops in Iraq by mid-January on orders from President Donald Trump.

The head of US forces in the Middle East, Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie, said in a statement that Thursday's nonstop strategic bomber mission demonstrated Washington’s commitment to regional partnerships and “our shared commitment to regional security and stability.”