Washington DC [US], January 23 (ANI): US President Donald Trump on Thursday warned that Iran is under close watch, stating that a “massive fleet” is heading toward the Gulf region.
“I said, if you hang those people, you’re going to be hit harder than you’ve ever been hit. It will make what we did to your Iran nuclear look like peanuts,” Trump told reporters on board Air Force One, returning from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to Joint Base Andrews near Washington DC.
“We have a massive fleet heading in that direction and maybe we won’t have to use it, we’ll see,” he added. “Maybe we won’t have to use it… we have a lot of ships going that direction, just in case, we have a big flotilla going in that direction, and we’ll see what happens.”
US media reported that the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and its strike group were ordered to divert from exercises in the South China Sea to West Asia. Speaking to CNBC on Wednesday, Trump said he hoped there would not be further US military action against Iran but asserted that the US would act if Tehran resumed its nuclear program. “If they do it, it’s going to happen again,” he said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, writing in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, warned that Tehran would respond decisively if attacked. “Our powerful armed forces have no qualms about firing back with everything we have if we come under renewed attack,” he wrote. Araghchi emphasized that his warning was not a threat but a reality he felt compelled to convey, noting that “an all-out confrontation will certainly be ferocious and drag on far, far longer than the fantasy timelines that Israel and its proxies are trying to peddle to the White House.” He added, “It will certainly engulf the wider region and have an impact on ordinary people around the globe.”
Amid rising tensions, Iran closed its airspace last week, likely anticipating a US strike, while diplomats from Gulf Arab and East Asian countries reportedly lobbied Trump to avoid military action. Ship-tracking data showed the USS Abraham Lincoln passing through the Strait of Malacca on Tuesday, a strategic waterway connecting the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean. While US defense officials have not confirmed the carrier strike group’s destination, its presence in the Indian Ocean positions it only days away from the West Asian region.
Iran is also grappling with internal unrest following some of the largest anti-government protests since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Human rights groups are working to confirm casualties, with the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency reporting at least 4,519 deaths and more than 26,300 arrests. (ANI)
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