The US military has deployed their largest fleet of jet fighters in the Middle East since the 2003 Iraq War as President Trump decides whether to attack Iran.
Trump has reportedly been ‘spending a lot of time thinking about’ potential strikes and could decide whether to launch a large-scale military operation by this weekend.
The president was considering multiple options for an attack, with the military buildup signifying that whatever choice he makes could take weeks to execute, according to The Wall Street Journal.
US officials told the Journal that Trump is considering a scheme that would decapitate Tehran’s political and military leaders in an attempt to spur regime change.
Another option would be a more sustained version of the strikes on the Iranian nuclear facility that was supposedly ‘obliterated’ last year.
In the past few days, the US has started sending ultra-modern F-35 and F-22 jet fighters into the region.
Other crafts include F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jets, F-15 and F-16 warplanes, and the KC-135 aerial refueling aircraft that are needed to sustain their operations.
On Wednesday, Flightradar24 showed multiple KC-135s flying near or in the Middle East, as well as E3 Sentry airborne warning and control aircraft and cargo planes operating in the region.
The US military has deployed their largest fleet of jet fighters in the Middle East since the 2003 Iraq War as President Trump decides whether to attack Iran
In the past few days, the US has started sending much of its ultra modern fleet to the region. Pictured: F/A-18E Super Hornet
The US is also stocking up by sea, as Washington currently has 13 warships in the Middle East: one aircraft carrier – the USS Abraham Lincoln – nine destroyers and three littoral combat ships, with more on the way, according to a US official.
The USS Gerald R Ford – the world’s largest aircraft carrier – is currently in the Atlantic Ocean en route from the Caribbean to the Middle East, after being ordered there by Trump earlier this month. It is accompanied by three destroyers.
The team says it has also tracked more than 85 fuel tankers and over 170 cargo planes heading into the region.
Steffan Watkins, a researcher based in Canada and a member of the MATA, said he also has spotted support aircraft like six of the military’s early-warning E-3 aircraft head to a base in Saudi Arabia.
Those aircraft are key for coordinating operations with a large number of aircraft. He says they were pulled from bases in Japan, Germany and Hawaii.
It is rare for there to be two US aircraft carriers – which carry dozens of warplanes and are crewed by thousands of sailors – in the Middle East.
In addition, the US is set to withdraw its remaining troops from Syria as tensions with Iran continue to escalate.
A senior White House official told the BBC that the Syrian government is set to take over the mission of combatting terrorism in the nation.
The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln is among the sea-faring vessels headed to the region
Trump has reportedly been ‘spending a lot of time thinking about’ potential strikes and could decide whether to launch a large-scale military operation by this weekend. Pictured: Iranians attend an anti-government protest in Tehran
The United States had two of the massive warships in the region in June last year when it targeted three Iranian nuclear sites during Israel’s 12-day campaign of strikes on Iran.
Trump has found himself arguing with aides both in favor of and against the military action, CNN reported.
He has also spent the recent days taking informal polls of his advisors over what to do, but it remains unclear when the president will make the final call.
A senior administration official told WSJ that Trump held a national security meeting on Wednesday where Iran was up for discussion.
Top officials in both the US and Iran have sounded off publicly on what Trump should do.
Earlier this week, Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi said regime change was ‘the best thing that could happen’ to his country and begged Trump to ‘expedite the process.’
He told Fox Business that getting rid of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his top aides would be a ‘humanitarian intervention.’
On Wednesday, Republican Senator Ted Cruz promised Trump would not start a land war as he told Fox News how Trump was going about his decision.
The potential war would be the most dramatic and consequential military invasion since the Iraq war in 2003 with major implications for Trump’s remaining presidency
‘President Trump is not an isolationist but he’s also not an interventionist,’ he said.
‘We’re not going to see a ground invasion of Iran. We’re not going to see hundreds of thousands of troops on the ground but the president is willing to defend American national security interests.’
He suggested Republican ‘isolationists’ who don’t want Trump getting involved in foreign entanglements ‘are wrong.’
‘They keep wanting Donald Trump to be an isolationist and that’s not who he is and the world is safer because of it. Our enemies are terrified of President Trump.’
The Daily Mail has reached out to the White House for comment.
The White House warned on Wednesday that Iran would be ‘wise’ to make a deal with the US as Trump hinted at military action.
The US and Iran recently resumed indirect talks, mediated by Oman, after Trump repeatedly threatened military action against Iran over a deadly crackdown on protesters last month.
A previous attempt at negotiations collapsed when Israel launched surprise strikes on Iran last June, beginning a 12-day war that Washington briefly joined to bomb Iranian nuclear sites.
A satellite view shows an overview of Fordow underground complex, after the US struck the underground nuclear facility, near Qom, Iran last June. Strikes on nuclear facilities are also being considered for this attack
‘Iran would be very wise to make a deal with President Trump and with his administration,’ White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.
On Wednesday, Trump again suggested the US might strike Iran in a post on his Truth Social site, as the military buildup was underway in the Middle East.
Earlier on Wednesday, Tehran’s top diplomat, Abbas Araghchi, said Iran was ‘drafting’ a framework for future talks with the US.
Diplomatic negotiations led by Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff reportedly made little progress on Tuesday after Tehran refused to meet Trump’s demand to halt all nuclear development, according to JD Vance.
Araghchi then said that Tehran had agreed with Washington on ‘guiding principles,’ but Vance said Iran had not yet acknowledged all of Washington’s red lines.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio plans to travel to Israel next week to update Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the talks, two Trump administration officials said.
Rubio is expected to meet with Netanyahu on February 28, according to the officials.
Netanyahu visited the White House last week to urge President Donald Trump to ensure that any deal about Iran’s nuclear program also include steps to neutralize Iran’s ballistic missile program and end its funding for proxy groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio (pictured) plans to travel to Israel next week to update Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the talks, two Trump administration officials said
The world’s largest aircraft carrier USS Gerald R Ford (pictured) is among the military armada moving into the Middle East
The potential war would be the most dramatic and consequential military invasion since the Iraq war in 2003 with major implications for Trump’s remaining presidency.
A war with Iran would come as Republicans brace for a tough midterm election cycle, fighting to preserve their congressional majority and avoid Trump becoming a lame-duck president.
Democrat House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said he ‘wouldn’t put anything past this president,’ when asked about potential US military action toward Iran.
But he insisted Trump cannot act alone in conducting military actions.
‘The American people clearly are of the view that before any adverse military action is taken unilaterally by Donald Trump and Republicans, that, of course, Congress — consistent with our constitutional responsibility — should approve any acts of war,’ Jeffries said.
Trump’s war preparations come as Iran has shut down the Strait of Hormuz for a military drill in a move that serves as a warning to the world if Trump orders an attack.
The temporary closure of parts of the strait came as Iranian news agencies reported live fire exercises in the vital waterway, through which 20 per cent of the world’s oil passes.
The rare move is a signal from Tehran of the potential fallout to the world economy if the US goes through with threats to attack as tensions mount between the two countries.
In past times of tension and conflict, Iran has at times harassed shipping through the narrows, and during the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, both sides attacked tankers and other vessels, using naval mines to completely shut down traffic at points.
But Iran has not carried out repeated threats to close the waterway altogether since the 1980s, even during last year’s 12-day war when Israel and the US bombarded Iran’s key nuclear and military sites.
The extent and impact of Tuesday’s closure were not immediately known. Iranian media said it would be for several hours for ‘safety and maritime concerns’.
Trump previously was preparing for a military strike against Iran at the start of the year over the mass killings of thousands of Iranian protesters by the regime.
Regional allies, including Turkey and Saudi Arabia, urged the White House to back off a strike over fears it could lead to a wider regional war with the Ayatollah.
After Trump backed off from launching a quick strike, the administration began a massive military naval build-up off Iran’s coast while demanding nuclear talks.
Meanwhile, top regime leaders, including the Ayatollah, have released threatening messages vowing to killing US service members after refusing to bend to Trump’s demands.
