FACT CHECK: Did Iran shoot down a US B-2 stealth bomber?

The U.S. announced on Sunday that it deployed its B-2 Spirit Stealth Bombers to decimate Iranian missile caves. The bombers flew over Iranian airspace in the early morning hours, pummelling the missile storage units built deep under the mountains.  These caves are built in such a way that they have fissures in their ceilings through which ballistic missiles can be fired.

Eight months after the B-2s neutralised Iran’s underground nuclear facilities, the US once again deployed its stunning stealth bomber to drop 2,000-pound (approximately 907 kg)  bombs on Iran’s reinforced ballistic missile facilities. The US military also released a video showing the B-2s taking off.

However, rumours began doing the rounds that Iran struck down one of the B-2s. Multiple handles on X began posting video of a fireball crashing down, stating “a large aerial object appears to have been shot down near Mount Damavand in northern Iran.”

“Size of the fireball indicates aircraft was carrying MASSIVE fuel store when it went down,” another handle read.

Soon, many started speculating that the aircraft that went down was a B-2 Bomber.

Similarly, another X user wrote, "Holy s**t did Iran shoot down a B-2?"  

However, these seem to be just rumours as official statements from US Central Command (CENTCOM) and the Pentagon said bombers returned safely to the US following this mission. Though the CENTCOM did not mention how many bombers were used for the mission, aviation specialist media "The Aviationist" reported that “four B-2 bombers believed to have been deployed in this mission were detected communicating with control towers” on their flight back home. The four aircraft, part of the PETRO41 flight, were flying over the Strait of Gibraltar,, and their flight was supported by a number of KC-46 tankers, of which one confirmed that the PETRO41 flight included four aircraft,” according to The Aviationist.