Illustrative image. (U.S. Central Command)
The United States military is preparing for the possibility of sustained, weeks-long operations against Iran if President Donald Trump orders an attack, Reuters reported on February 14, citing two U.S. officials.
Since last month, when Trump first threatened the Islamic Republic over a wave of protest that turned deadly, the U.S. military has been deploying additional assets in the Middle East. The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and its strike group arrived in the region earlier this month, and a second strike group led by the carrier USS Gerald R. Ford is on its way there.
U.S. and Iranian officials held indirect talks in Oman last week. Nevertheless, the talks were focused on the nuclear issue only.
Speaking to U.S. troops at a base in North Carolina a day before Reuters report came out, Trump said it had “been difficult to make a deal” with Iran.
“Sometimes you have to have fear. That’s the only thing that really will get the situation taken care of,” Trump said.
Asked about potential regime change in Iran by reporters after the visit to Fort Bragg, Trump said, “it seems like that would be the best thing that could happen,” as he confirmed sending a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East “in case we don’t make a deal” with the Islamic Republic.
“For 47 years, they’ve been talking and talking and talking,” Trump said, referring to Iran’s clerical rulers. “In the meantime, we’ve lost a lot of lives while they talk. Legs blown off, arms blown off, faces blown off. We’ve been going on for a long time.”
Pressed on who he would like to take over the Islamic Republic, Trump declined to give a specific name, but he added that “there are people.”
The U.S. officials who spoke with Reuters repealed that the military planning against Iran underway this time is more complex.
In a sustained campaign, the U.S. military could hit Iranian state and security facilities, not just nuclear infrastructure, one of the officials said. The same official said the U.S. fully expected Iran to retaliate, leading to back-and-forth strikes and reprisals over a period of time.
While the U.S. military is clearly preparing for an all-out war, Trump’s recent remarks indicate that he is growing frustrated with Tehran. Still, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on February 14 that the U.S. President is open to the idea of meeting Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
“I’m pretty confident in saying that if the ayatollah said tomorrow he wanted to meet with President Trump, the President would meet him, not because he agrees with the ayatollah but because he thinks that’s the way you solve problems in the world, and he doesn’t view meeting someone as a concession,” Rubio said during an interview with Bloomberg News.
A U.S. official and three sources with knowledge told Axios on the same day that the U.S. and Iran are expected to hold a second round of nuclear talks in Geneva on February 17 in an effort to reach a deal that prevents war.
It is highly unlikely that the next round of talks will produce any tangible results, as the two sides remain very far from each other on the nuclear issue. Adding to the complexity of the situation is the fact that Iran has so far refused to discuss its missile program and regional influence.
Trump may be earnest in his efforts to reach a diplomatic solution with Iran. However, he is likely looking for a deal that fulfills all the demands of the U.S. and Israel without ceding much to the Islamic Republic. Due to this, an agreement seems further away from war.
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trumps knows that just a single warship sunk by iran will cause huge problems! remember when iran attacked tha ayn assad base and pentagon as well as us media refuted the trump words…