His statements come as the United States assembles its largest Middle East air presence since the 2003 Iraq invasion
President Donald Trump said that the United States will decide “in the next probably 10 days” whether to strike Iran or reach a deal, as the Pentagon carries out a massive military buildup in the Middle East that includes aircraft carriers, warships, and hundreds of fighter jets.
Trump, at the Thursday Board of Peace event, lauded his strikes last summer on Iran’s nuclear facilities, saying they brought “peace to the Middle East.” He added that “we may have to take it a step further or we may not. Maybe we’re gonna make a deal.”
“You’re gonna find out in the next probably 10 days,” Trump said.
His comments come as the United States assembles an “armada” in the Middle East, including the largest air deployment since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Over the past few days, the United States has moved cutting-edge F-35 and F-22 jet fighters to the region, the Wall Street Journal reported. More than 150 military cargo flights have moved weapons and ammunition, and two aircraft carrier strike groups, the USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS Gerald R. Ford, have been deployed to the region.
The buildup comes amid ongoing talks between the United States and Iran over the country’s contested nuclear weapons program. Iranian negotiators have repeatedly indicated that Iran’s ballistic missile program is not subject to negotiations, but Trump has said that an acceptable deal would include “no nuclear weapons, no missiles.”
The “armada” gives the United States the opportunity for a sustained military attack as opposed to the more targeted Midnight Hammer operation, according to the Journal. Trump said last summer’s strikes “totally decimated [Iran’s] nuclear potential. And when it decimated that, all of a sudden we had peace in the Middle East. There was a black cloud hanging over the Middle East, and if that wasn’t done, that cloud would have been there.”
“Countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, nobody could’ve signed,” Trump continued. “You couldn’t have peace in the Middle East.”
Last summer, as he was weighing striking Iran’s nuclear facilities, Trump said he would decide “within the next two weeks.” Just 48 hours later, Trump had already given the order to decimate Iran’s nuclear program.
Despite the buildup, Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei continues to talk tough. On Tuesday, he threatened to sink U.S. warships in the Middle East, warning that while American carriers are “dangerous,” Iran possesses weapons capable of sending them “to the bottom of the sea.” Just hours later, security forces opened fire on civilian mourners gathered in the southern city of Abdanan to honor victims of the regime’s earlier anti-protest crackdown, according to videos published by Iran International.
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