As Trump pressures Iran to reach a deal, dozens of US fighter jets join in

The U.S. Navy’s 1,000-foot-long aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford turned on its tracking system for a few hours Wednesday afternoon, revealing its position about 175 miles off the western coast of Morocco on a path toward the Strait of Gibraltar and into the Mediterranean Sea. The location revealed by the ship suggested it could arrive in the eastern Mediterranean days ahead of schedule.

The Ford is the Second US aircraft carrier ordered by President Trump. targeting the waters around Iran as part of a massive military buildup as it pressures the Islamic Republic to reach a deal on its nuclear program. The naval “arma”, as Trump has called it, is accompanied by a huge surge of US military aircraft to Europe and the Middle East, according to a News themezone analysis.

Senior national security officials have told Trump that the US military is ready for possible strikes against Iran as early as Saturday, but the timeline for any action is likely to extend beyond this weekend, sources familiar with the discussions. told News themezone on Wednesday, adding that President Trump had not yet made a final decision on whether to attack Iran.

“Now is the time for Iran to join us on a path that will complete what we are doing,” Trump said Thursday at a meeting of his Peace Board in Washington.

“If they join us, it will be great. If they don’t join us, it will also be great. But it will be a very different path,” the president said, adding: “If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen. But bad things will happen if it doesn’t happen.”

The activation of the Automatic Identification System (AIS), which allowed the Ford to appear on open source maritime tracking websites, was a clear signal that the US military wanted it to be seen, not only by the many journalists and amateurs who monitored naval traffic, but also by Iran.

The massive U.S. naval buildup has come amid a less discussed, but equally public, massive movement of U.S. air power from its bases toward Europe and the Middle East.

In just eight hours on Wednesday, News themezone Confirmed was able to identify more than 50 U.S. Air Force and Navy aircraft flying east from military airfields on both U.S. coasts toward the United Kingdom, continental Europe and the Middle East, where some disappeared from radar around the Jordan-Saudi border.

The aircraft seen in transit were mostly refueling, transport and surveillance aircraft. In addition to public tracking information, photographs have shown US Air Force F-15, F-22 and F-35 fighter jets landing at UK bases and taking off again this week.

The images, captured by civilian aircraft spotters who upload them to social media, indicate that in addition to the logistics aircraft revealed by the tracking data, American strike power has also been moving into the region.

The flights tracked by News themezone on Wednesday represented just a fraction of the hundreds of aircraft movements visible in recent days.

While it is not unusual for the US military to reposition equipment and troops around the world, the increase in aircraft, particularly refueling aircraft, and their arrival at bases in the Azores and Crete ahead of the Ford’s imminent arrival, have fueled speculation about a possible US attack on Iran.

Bases in the Azores (Portuguese islands in the mid-Atlantic) and the Greek island of Crete were critical during Operation Midnight Hammer, the US attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities in June, which were carried out in conjunction with Israel’s 12-day war against Iran.

If the Ford sails into the Mediterranean as it appears it will in the coming days, it will join the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike groupwhich has been deployed in the Arabian Sea since January, a short distance from Iran. The Lincoln was last seen in public satellite images on February 15, about 200 miles off the coast of Oman.

Both US aircraft carriers are the flagships of their strike groups, which include other warships and dozens of fighter jets and attack helicopters. While the Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, appears to have moved ahead of its strike group after departing the Caribbean last week, the entire Lincoln strike group has been in the Middle East for weeks.

There are also guided missile destroyers deployed independently of carrier strike groups, including USS Roosevelt and USS Bulkeley in the Mediterranean, USS Delbert D Black in the Red Sea, and USS Mitscher in the Persian Gulf.