What interest did the american air force have in the battle for iwo jima?

Iwo Jima had numerous airfields that were controlled by the Japanese forces. The air force designed the plan for battle in such a way as to take the control of the island and the airfields in order to organize future plans and aircraft assaults from those airfields. It was an important strategic position for organizing new plans, refueling, getting new bombs, fixing planes, or anything similar.