The US military is ready for possible strikes on Iran as soon as this weekend, multiple news outlets reported on Wednesday citing unnamed sources.
However, the reports said, Donald Trump has yet to make a final decision on whether to carry out an attack. Trump has repeatedly demanded Iran cease its nuclear programme, and has warned he intends to use force if no deal is reached.
According to the New York Times, CBS News and CNN, the US military has assembled sufficient air and naval resources in the Middle East to launch an attack in the coming days.
Reuters, citing an unnamed senior US official, offered a slightly different timeline, reporting that top US national security advisers were told during a meeting in the White House situation room on Wednesday that all US military forces deployed to the region should be in place by mid-March.
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CBS also noted the timeline for a strike was likely to extend beyond this weekend.
Iran is expected to submit a written proposal on how to resolve its standoff with the United States in the wake of talks with the US in Geneva on Tuesday, the official told Reuters.
During a Wednesday press conference, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt did not answer a question about an exact deadline Trump would give Iran to achieve a deal before engaging in military action.
“Iran would be very wise to make a deal with president Trump,” she said, adding that the Trump administration “totally obliterated Iran’s nuclear facilities”, but that “diplomacy” was always the president’s “first option”.
She also noted that while there was a “little bit of progress” following Tuesday’s talks in Geneva, “we’re still very far apart on some issues”.
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“He is spending a lot of time thinking about this,” one source told CNN, speaking about Trump.
According to Axios reporter Barak Ravid, Trump met on Wednesday with the two advisers leading indirect talks with Iran: Steve Witkoff, a real estate developer turned envoy, and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law.
On Israeli television, Ravid reported that US sources told him the talks in Geneva with Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, were a “nothingburger” and that the Pentagon was preparing for a joint Israeli-US offensive that could last weeks. According to Ravid’s sources, Iran only has until the end of February to offer concessions on its nuclear programme.
The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier group and its flotilla of warships is already in the region, CBS News noted, and a second carrier group, the USS Gerald Ford, is en route to the Middle East.
As of Wednesday, the Ford was off the coast of west Africa, according to maritime vessel tracking data and open-source researchers.
On Tuesday, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, posted an AI-generated image of the Ford in a maritime grave on social media, alongside a caption that read: “More dangerous than that warship is the weapon that can send that warship to the bottom of the sea.”
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Dozens of refuelling tankers and more than 50 additional fighter jets are also in the region, the New York Times reports. At the same time, the Pentagon is moving some personnel out of the Middle East to avoid potential counterattacks if the US moves forward with a strike, CBS said, citing multiple officials.
Preparations are also under way in Israel for the possibility of joining strikes with the United States, the New York Times reported, citing two defence officials.
In an interview with Saudi Arabia’s Al-Arabiya television that aired on Wednesday, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said “the consequences are not good” of any new US strike on Iran.
“No one wants an increase in tension. Everyone understands this is playing with fire,” Lavrov said, calling for the United States to avoid striking Iran and allow the country to pursue a peaceful nuclear programme.
In June, the US struck key nuclear enrichment sites in Iran and Israeli fighter jets struck “dozens” of targets across the country, including a long-range missile site in Yazd. – Guardian
