Is Trump and Israel about to attack Iran?
US build-up of warships and fighter jets tracked near Iran
BBC Verify has confirmed the location of US aircraft carrier the USS Abraham Lincoln near Iran using satellite imagery, as Washington continues to put pressure on the country over its military program and recent deadly crackdown on protesters.
US and Iranian officials are set to meet in Switzerland on Tuesday for a second round of talks. Iran says the meeting will focus on its nuclear programme and the potential lifting of economic sanctions imposed by the US. Washington has previously indicated it wants to discuss other issues as well.
The Abraham Lincoln, which leads a strike group with three guided missile destroyers, carries 90 aircraft including F35 fighters, and 5,680 crew, was reportedly deployed to the Gulf region in late January but has not been seen in satellite imagery until now. It has been located off the coast of Oman, around 700km from Iran.
The US has also reportedly sent the USS Gerald R Ford, the world’s largest warship, to the Middle East, which could arrive in the region within the next three weeks.
The Abraham Lincoln’s arrival adds to what we know about the current US military build-up in the Middle East over the past few weeks, where BBC Verify has tracked an increase of US destroyers, combat ships and fighter jets in the region.
BBC
Trump seems to be going a long long long way up to walk this all back now.
The shear scale of the military build up and planning to go through a few rounds of damage could easily spin out of control.
The real danger of Trump illegally kidnapping Maduro and annexing Venezuela’s oil is that Trump believed he could get away with simply ignoring the rules based order.
That has made him giddy with power and he believes military action can actually get him what he wants.
Venezuela, Iran, then Cuba. And maybe Greenland and Canada if he has time
America and Israel are going to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities again and go after some military air defence assets.
They will wait until the Winter Olympics ends but must have everything wrapped up before the Soccer World Cup starts in June.
Trump wants to smash Iran’s nuclear facilities again, plus some air defence facilities the Israeli’s want gone and then Trump will immediately want to cut a deal on dismantling the nuclear civilian capacity as well before he strikes again.
Iran on the other hand is a Theocracy that was ironically created by CIA blowback when America staged a coup in Iran for their oil. That Theocracy is manned by religious zealots who will gladly die for their Ayatollah.
You can’t buy or bully these people.
Iran will mine the straights which will see the price of oil jump as all commercial oil shipping stops.
Iran could hit many different American bases in the area alongside Israel itself, not with the sad slow launch they did with all their old missiles, the new ballistic missiles and possible hypersonic missiles.
Iran could also have what is left of their proxies open up fronts all over the place.
Even iof Trump gets what he wants and somehow manages to kill all the top military, he creates a dangerously destabilised Iran that could cause vicious religious schisms committing atrocities in the power vacuum and a tsunami of Iranian refugees fleeing into Turkey and destabilising Turkey.
Trump’s Venezuelan ‘success’ has set him up dangerously for an Iranian nightmare.
