Shafaq News/ The United States military said it flew a B-52 bomber over the Middle East, amid tensions with Iran - the first such flight under President Joe Biden, the third this year, and sixth by the US since November.

The show of strength comes just a week after Iran launched a massive military drill along the coast of the Gulf of Oman, the latest in a series of snap exercises amid escalating tensions over Washington's pressure campaign against Tehran.

The American B-52 nuclear capable bomber flew nonstop from Louisiana's Barksdale Air Force Base into the region earlier in the day on Wednesday. 

The plane went over both the Persian Gulf and Saudi Arabia, according to flight-tracking data.

The US military's Central Command later published images of the bomber flying alongside Royal Saudi Air Force F-15s.

While not mentioning Iran in its statement, Central Command said the flight was meant to “showcase the US commitment to regional security.”

The flights, the third-such operation this year, had become common in the last months of former President Donald Trump's administration. 

Trump's 2018 decision to unilaterally withdraw from Iran's nuclear deal with world powers sparked a series of escalating incidents in the region.

Biden has expressed a desire to return to the deal if Iran honors the deal's limits on its nuclear program.

Antony Blinken, who was recently confirmed by the United States Senate as the next secretary of state, told lawmakers that he favors a return to the Iran nuclear deal provided that Tehran uphold its end of the bargain.

'If Iran comes back into compliance we would, too, but we would use that as a platform with our allies and partners who would once again be on the same side with us, to seek a longer and stronger agreement,' Blinken told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on January 19. 

Zarif this week ruled out any changes to the nuclear accord and said that his government will not accept any demands to alter the terms of the deal.

Biden, who took office last Wednesday, “can begin by removing all sanctions imposed since Trump assumed office and seek to re-enter and abide by the 2015 nuclear deal without altering its painstakingly negotiated terms,” Zarif wrote.

“In turn, Iran would reverse all the remedial measures it has taken in the wake of Trump's withdrawal from the nuclear deal,” he said on Friday. 

Biden faces pressure both from Democrats and Republican opponents of the Iran deal. 

They don't want the U.S. to throw away the leverage of sanctions until Iran is made to address other items objectionable to Israel, Sunni Arab neighbors, and the United States. 

That includes Iran’s ballistic missiles and substantial and longstanding intervention in Syria, Yemen, Lebanon and Iraq. Biden promises to deal with all that too.