Trump ‘identifies date for strike on Iran’ as world’s largest aircraft carrier heads to the Middle East

Donald Trump could make a decision on military strikes in Iran soon, with the US military ready to potentially launch an attack by this weekend. 

American military assets have been built up in the Middle East in recent days ahead of a possible strike, CNN reported.  

‘He is spending a lot of time thinking about this,’ a source told the network, adding that Trump has found himself arguing both in favor of and against the military action. 

Trump has also spent the recent days taking informal polls of his aides and military advisors over what to do, but it remains unclear when the president will make the final call.

The Daily Mail has reached out to the White House for comment.

Earlier Wednesday, it was revealed the president is on the verge of greenlighting a ‘massive, weeks-long’ military campaign against Iran that would be seen as all out war. 

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. 

Sources tell Axios the campaign would have a broader regime-change objective against the Ayatollah. The US and Israel would also launch the operation in a military joint effort. 

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. 

Trump’s armada off the coast of Iran has swelled in recent days to include two aircraft carriers, a dozen warships, and hundreds of fighter jets equipped with advanced air defense systems. 

More firepower is also on the way as 150 military cargo flights have begun rapidly transferring weapon systems and ammunition to US Middle East bases in the last 24 hours. 

Dozens of US fighter jets, including F-35s, F-22s and F-16s, have left bases in the US and Europe in recent days to head to the Middle East, according to the Military Air Tracking Alliance, a team of about 30 open-source analysts that routinely analyzes military and government flight activity.

The team says it’s 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.

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.

This is a developing story.