There is still talk of diplomacy in Washington. But the pressure is growing every day for Donald Trump to follow up his threats against Iran with action. Is he facing the most consequential military strike of his presidency?
The fighter jets are already in the air. American F-22 Raptors took off from Langley Air Force Base at dawn, around 5 a.m. local time, according to flight data. Dozens of F-16s followed. Two complete aircraft carrier formations are on course or are already in the Middle East. A number of tanker planes cross the Atlantic. Patriot and THAAD air defense systems are operational.
Several US media outlets are reporting: According to American government officials, President Donald Trump could be in a position to order attacks on Iran “as early as this weekend.” What is clear at this point is that no one in Washington is acting anymore as if this largest deployment of air forces since the Iraq War under George W. Bush was just a threatening backdrop or even routine.
High-ranking security advisers are said to have informed Trump that the military was now ready to strike. In the Pentagon, the US Department of Defense, special shifts are being carried out. The talks in the White House are considered “fluid”. The direction seems clear: the military force currently massed in the Middle East is more than symbolic. Anyone who invests so much materially and financially may really be aiming for a week-long dogfight.
And yet, from the outside, no final decision has been made yet.
The White House further emphasized publicly on Wednesday that talks with the government in Tehran had priority. Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt emphasized: “Diplomacy is always his first option.” At the same time, she added, there are “many reasons and arguments that could be put forward for a strike against Iran.” Iran “would be very wise to strike a deal with President Trump,” Leavitt warned.
Vice President JD Vance had already adopted this tone. The talks this week in Geneva “went well in some respects,” he said in an interview with Fox News. At the same time, however, it “has become very clear that the president has drawn some red lines that the Iranians have not yet acknowledged or wanted to address.” Among other things, the Americans are interested in ending Iran’s entire nuclear program – including civilian use.
Things are apparently simmering behind the scenes in the White House. According to media reports, one of Trump’s advisors put it quite drastically: “The boss is losing patience.” He thinks there is a 90 percent chance that we will see “kinetic actions,” i.e. armed attacks, in the next few weeks. Trump himself had also recently made open threats. If Tehran doesn’t reach a deal, he said, “it will be a very bad day for Iran.”
