A US aircraft carrier and several warships have arrived in the Middle East, amid fears that Donald Trump could finally order a strike on Iran.
The president warned last week that an “armada” was on its way, saying his administration was “watching” Iran following weeks of deadly protests across the country.
The USS Abraham Lincoln and a number of guided-missile destroyers have now arrived in the Middle East region, which comes under the US military’s Central Command, US officials said Monday.
“We have a lot of ships going that direction, just in case …I’d rather not see anything happen, but we’re watching them very closely,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One Thursday. “We have an armada … heading in that direction, and maybe we won’t have to use it.”
The US military said it would carry out an exercise to “demonstrate the ability to deploy, disperse, and sustain combat airpower” in the Middle East, the latest indication of an increasingly aggressive foreign policy from the Trump administration in his second term.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to strike Iran in response to the regime’s deadly crackdown on widespread protests in recent weeks.
However, despite widespread reports of mass casualties the US president has yet to take military action.
As many as 30,000 may have been killed in the unrest so far this month, two senior officials in Tehran’s health ministry told Time on Sunday, though estimated figures on the number of deaths have varied wildly.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said it had confirmed 5,459 deaths, and is continuing to investigate another 17,031.
The demonstrations have abated following the crackdown. Trump said he had been told that the killings were subsiding and that there were no plans to execute any prisoners despite reports a protester was due to be put to death earlier this month.
There is precedent for US military forces surging into the Middle East, sometimes claiming the moves were in fact defensive.
Last year, the US military carried out a significant build up of its military ahead of June strikes against Tehran’s nuclear programme.
The current movement of military forces into the Middle East includes fighter jets and air defense systems, alongside the aircraft carrier and warships.
But a senior Iranian official has warned that any attack on Iran would be considered an “all-out-war against us”.
The United Arab Emirates has also made clear that it has no desire to be involved, declaring on Monday that it would not let its airspace, territory or waters be used for any hostile military actions in Iran.
The Al Dhafra Air Base, a US military hub located south of the capital of Abu Dhabi, has been a critical US Air Force hub which has supported key missions against the Islamic State, along with reconnaissance deployments across the region.
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