WASHINGTON – The US military has deployed its largest fleet of jet fighters in the Middle East since the 2003 Iraq War as President Trump decides whether to attack Iran.
Trump has reportedly been ‘spending a lot of time thinking about’ potential strikes and could decide whether to launch a large-scale military operation by this weekend.
The president was considering multiple options for an attack, with the military build-up signifying that whatever choice he makes could take weeks to execute, according to The Wall Street Journal. US officials told the Journal that Trump is considering a scheme that would decapitate Tehran’s political and military leaders in an attempt to spur regime change.
Another option would be a more sustained version of the strikes on the Iranian nuclear facility that was supposedly ‘obliterated’ last year.
In the past few days, the US has started sending ultra-modern F-35 and F-22 jet fighters into the region.
Other crafts include F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jets, F-15 and F-16 warplanes, and the KC-135 aerial refuelling aircraft that are needed to sustain their operations.
On Wednesday, Flightradar24 showed multiple KC-135s flying near or in the Middle East, as well as E3 Sentry airborne warning and control aircraft and cargo planes operating in the region.
The US is also stocking up by sea, as Washington currently has 13 warships in the Middle East: One aircraft carrier – the USS Abraham Lincoln – nine destroyers and three littoral combat ships, with more on the way, according to a US official.
The USS Gerald R Ford – the world’s largest aircraft carrier – is currently in the Atlantic Ocean en route from the Caribbean to the Middle East, after being ordered there by Trump earlier this month. It is accompanied by three destroyers.
The team says it has also tracked more than 85 fuel tankers and over 170 cargo planes heading into the region.
Steffan Watkins, a researcher based in Canada and a member of the MATA, said he also has spotted support aircraft like six of the military’s early-warning E-3 aircraft head to a base in Saudi Arabia.
Those aircraft are key for coordinating operations with a large number of aircraft.
He says they were pulled from bases in Japan, Germany and Hawaii.
It is rare for there to be two US aircraft carriers – which carry dozens of warplanes and are crewed by thousands of sailors – in the Middle East.
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