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USS Gerald R Ford Alamy Stock Photo
tensions
US forces build up in Middle East ahead of potential strikes against Iran
Trump said yesterday he is “considering” a limited strike on Iran if negotiations fail to yield a replacement for the nuclear deal with Tehran that he tore up during his first term in office.
THE US IS building up its forces ahead of potential strikes against Iran, with a major aircraft carrier entering the region yesterday.
The USS Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier – the world’s largest – has entered the Mediterranean Sea, further boosting American firepower in a region that has seen a massive military buildup over recent weeks.
The carrier was seen transiting the Strait of Gibraltar – which links the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean – in a photo taken from the Gibraltar side of the strait.
Trump – who had previously sent another carrier to the Middle East – said yesterday he is “considering” a limited strike on Iran if negotiations fail to yield a replacement for the nuclear deal with Tehran that he tore up during his first term in office.
How much firepower does the US have in the region?
Washington currently has 13 warships in the Middle East: one aircraft carrier — the USS Abraham Lincoln — nine destroyers and three littoral combat ships, a US official said.
In the latest buildup, the Ford was accompanied by three destroyers, and when in position will bring the total number of US warships in the Middle East to 17.
Both carriers are crewed by thousands of sailors and have air wings comprised of dozens of warplanes. It is rare to have two of the massive warships in the Middle East at the same time.
In addition to the aircraft on the carriers, the United States has sent dozens of other warplanes to the Middle East, according to open-source intelligence accounts on X, flight-tracking website Flightradar24 and media reports.
These include F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning stealth fighter jets, F-15 and F-16 warplanes, and the KC-135 aerial refueling aircraft that are needed to sustain their operations.
While ground forces are not expected to take part in offensive action against Iran, the United States has tens of thousands of military personnel on bases in the Middle East that are potentially vulnerable to a counterattack.
Tehran launched missiles at a US base in Qatar after Washington struck three Iranian nuclear sites in June 2025, but they were shot down by air defenses.
Students protest
The buildup comes as protests reportedly continue in Iran, with local students chanting anti-government slogans at rallies for people killed during a recent wave of demonstrations.
According to local and diaspora media today, the groups protested the clerical leadership faced off with others voicing support for the government.
Videos geolocated by AFP to at Tehran’s top engineering university showed fights breaking out in a crowd as people shouted “bi sharaf”, or “disgraceful” in Farsi.
Footage posted by the Persian-language TV channel Iran International, which is based outside the country, also showed a large crowd chanting anti-government slogans at Sharif University of Technology.
Iranians had reprised their protest slogans this week to mark the 40th day since the deaths of thousands of people as a wave of demonstrations was peaking on January 8 and 9, in line with Shiite mourning tradition.
They gathered again at several universities in the capital on Saturday, local media reported.
The unrest first broke out in December over prolonged financial strain, but exploded into mass anti-government demonstrations that were suppressed in a violent crackdown by security forces that rights groups say killed thousands.
The clerical authorities acknowledge more than 3,000 deaths, but say the violence was caused by “terrorist acts” fuelled by Iran’s enemies.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), however, has recorded more than 7,000 killings in the crackdown, the vast majority protesters, though the toll may be far higher.
Local news outlet Fars said that what was supposed to be a “silent and peaceful sit-in” of students commemorating those killed was disrupted by people chanting slogans including “death to the dictator” — a reference to Iran’s supreme leader.
A video posted by Fars showed a group chanting and waving Iranian flags facing off with a crowd wearing masks and being held back by men in suits.
Both groups were holding what appeared to be memorial photographs.
With reporting by AFP
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