President Donald Trump warned Iran on Wednesday that the United States will launch a huge attack against the country if it does not negotiate a nuclear weapons deal swiftly.
The president said the Pentagon is preparing to launch a “massive” military operation against Iran with a naval fleet comparable to the one used earlier this month in Venezuela, when special forces toppled former dictator Nicolas Maduro. Trump said that such an attack would be “far worse” than the strikes the U.S. carried out against Iran last summer, when “Operation Midnight Hammer” sought to eradicate the country’s nuclear facilities.
“A massive Armada is heading to Iran. It is moving quickly, with great power, enthusiasm, and purpose. It is a larger fleet, headed by the great Aircraft Carrier Abraham Lincoln, than that sent to Venezuela. Like with Venezuela, it is, ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary,” Trump wrote in a message to Truth Social.
Ahead of the Venezuela operation that led to Maduro’s arrest, the U.S. sent a fleet of warships to the region, including the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier.
“Hopefully Iran will quickly ‘Come to the Table’ and negotiate a fair and equitable deal – NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS – one that is good for all parties. Time is running out, it is truly of the essence! As I told Iran once before, MAKE A DEAL! They didn’t, and there was Operation Midnight Hammer,’ a major destruction of Iran. The next attack will be far worse! Don’t make that happen again,” he continued.
Trump’s statement comes after he had suggested in recent weeks that the U.S. could come to the aid of protesters seeking to topple the Iranian regime, an Islamic theocracy led by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Since the most recent uprising began, thousands have been killed by the ayatollah’s forces, and Iran has instituted an internet blackout to quell demonstrations. On Sunday, the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said it is probing nearly 23,000 suspected deaths. Iranian officials have confirmed that at least 5,000 have died.
The president’s threat to attack Iran comes just days after the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, or the U.S. “armada,” arrived in the Middle East after being redirected from its Indo-Pacific deployment. The $6.8 billion fleet contains some of the U.S. Navy’s most powerful warships, described as the largest in the world, and includes the USS Abraham Lincoln, the Carrier Air Wing 9, and destroyers USS Frank E. Petersen, Jr., USS Spruance, and USS Michael Murphy.
The ayatollah has now retreated underground amid fear the U.S. will launch an attack, according to reports.
“We have a lot of ships going that direction just in case,” Trump said on Air Force One last Thursday, adding that “we have an armada heading that direction and maybe we won’t have to use it.”
Threats to use U.S. military force to stop mass killings of protesters by the Iranian government are a relatively new development. The idea that Washington could use military force to thwart Iran from developing a nuclear bomb is a long-standing one.
Roughly six months ago, Trump authorized the military to do just that, with fighter bombers striking three Iranian nuclear facilities.
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Those strikes marked a “severe setback” for the regime’s nuclear capabilities, according to the Pentagon’s National Defense Strategy released last week. But Operation Midnight Hammer did not wipe them out, according to the government.
“Although Iran has suffered severe setbacks over recent months, it appears intent on reconstituting its conventional military forces. Iran’s leaders have also left open the possibility that they will try again to obtain a nuclear weapon, including by refusing to engage in meaningful negotiations,” the national defense strategy said.
