Whoever wrote those stories is ignorant of how modern warfare works. The B-52 is an old airplane, with a huge radar cross-section. You send those planes in *last*. What you send in first are stealth planes that fire anti-radiation missiles at radar and communications sites. So Iran's first warning is those sites blowing up. Once Iran's ability to spot you and communicate is degraded, *then* you send in the big bombers. B-52's can also carry cruise missiles with a range up to 1,500 miles. In that case they don't have to go to Iran at all, since that distance is about twice the width of Iran from the ocean. They can launch from over the Indian Ocean or Saudi Arabia.