U.S. officials confirmed to various outlets Friday that the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, will join the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group already operating in the Persian Gulf. It will become the second of two U.S. carrier strike groups near Iran, as the U.S. threatens military action, ‘something very tough,’ unless Iran accepts U.S. demands over Iran’s nuclear program.
At a military event at Fort Bragg on Friday, President Trump addressed the new deployment to the Middle East. “In case we don’t make a deal,” he said, “we’ll need it.”
The move follows Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s February 11 visit to the White House to discuss Iran strategy. Prior to that meeting, Trump told reporters that, following preliminary discussions between U.S. envoys and Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, Washington would be willing to accept an agreement focused solely on Iran’s nuclear program—without addressing other issues Israel has insisted on like ballistic missiles—provided Iran is prevented from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
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