The Middle East is aflame and everything the United States has is impotent to intervene. Enter the Black Widows, the U.S.'s ace in the hole.
Ramadan 2012.
Internal conflict in Iraq degenerates into a civil war. While the government waffles on asking the United States for help, the rebels quickly begin receiving aid from Iran. By the time the Iraqi Prime Minister agrees to allow U.S. troops back in, the conflict is too hot for the President to dare send ground forces in right before the elections. He commits naval and air assets hoping they will be enough to calm the situation. The forces only serve to escalate the conflict, leading to Iran declaring the entire Persian Gulf blockaded and trapping the supercarrier U.S.S. George H. Bush in the Gulf. Additionally, the much vaunted F-22 stealth fighter is detectable by upgraded Iranian radar.
Stuck between a rock and a hard place, the U.S. sends in their secret weapon, a squadron of F-23 Black Widows, flown by a hand-picked group from the 13th Fighter Interceptor Squadron out of a long thought abandoned base in Montana. The 13th isn't in theater long before the Iranians up the ante by detonating their first atomic weapon. With the fate of the cradle of civilization at stake, the Black Widows are given a suicide mission. Get the nukes.