A US military chartered aircraft used to transport troops stopped at Shannon last Friday before flying straight to Kuwait – a critical hub for American forces in the region – just hours before Washington-backed Israel attacked Iran.
The plane arrived in Ireland the day before an Israeli airstrike killed more than 150 schoolgirls, which foreign affairs minister Helen McEntee refused to condemn.
American football team the New England Patriots owns the pleane and leases it out for military transportation when not required for team travel.
The Omni Air-operated Boeing 767-300, under the control of the Department of War’s US Transportation Command, left Biggs Army Airfield in Texas last Thursday, 26 February.
It stopped at Baltimore-Washington International Airport before landing at Shannon on Friday morning.
Later that day the plane left the Clare airport using a military callsign and flew straight to Kuwait International Airport – arriving just hours before the US and Israel began bombing Tehran.
Six US soldiers were killed this week after Iran retaliated by striking a US military installation in Kuwait.
The Ditch reported yesterday that two US Air Force planes stopped at Shannon Airport over the weekend before flying straight to the main European hub used to transport weapons for use against Iran.
The Department of Foreign Affairs declined to comment.
