Trump is now deciding whether to take military action against Iran as soon as this weekend, officials said. But unlike last June, when the United States joined Israel in attacking nuclear sites in Iran, the president’s objectives are less clear.
The armada includes the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, which is accompanied by three warships that are equipped with Tomahawk missiles and that were used to strike two of Iran’s nuclear facilities last June. The warships also carry air defenses. The carrier’s stealthy F-35 fighters and F/A-18 attack planes are well within striking distance of dozens of targets in Iran, if Trump were to order them into action.
Read more: US ready with ballistic missiles to strike in Middle East
In a major increase of firepower, the U.S. recently ordered a second aircraft carrier strike group to the region. This includes the Navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, and three of its accompanying destroyers. On Wednesday, they were on course to the Strait of Gibraltar, according to flight and ship-tracking data reviewed by The New York Times. The Ford’s warplanes were used in the Jan. 3 attack on Venezuela that captured President Nicolás Maduro.
Additionally, another destroyer was sent to the Northern Arabian Sea, and one is en route, according to a Navy official, bringing the total in the wider region to 13 destroyers.
The Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in eastern Jordan appears to have become a central node for the U.S. air assets of the buildup. At least two waves of attack aircraft arrived at the base between mid-January and mid-February, bringing the number there to nearly 30. In addition to the attack aircraft, four electronic warfare jets, which are used to jam radar and communications systems, arrived in Jordan at the end of January. And a Jan. 30 satellite image showed at least five MQ-9 Reaper drones at the base.
Flight tracking data and satellite imagery suggest that the United States is also moving additional aircraft, including refueling planes and reconnaissance aircraft equipped with sophisticated sensors and cameras, into the region. Dozens of tanker and cargo aircraft have also recently repositioned from the United States to bases spanning Europe to supply the forces in the Middle East.
And the Pentagon has dispatched more Patriot and THAAD air defenses to the region to help protect troops there from retaliatory strikes by Iranian short- and medium-range missiles. There are about 30,000 to 40,000 U.S. troops in the region.
Long-range bombers based in the United States that could strike targets in Iran are on a higher-than-usual alert status. The Pentagon heightened the alert status in January, when Trump requested options to respond to a government crackdown on protests in the country.
Since then, several special operations, surveillance and refueling planes have been sent to the Diego Garcia military base in the Indian Ocean. The location is known as a forward deployment airfield for long-range B-2 stealth bombers.
