The US military is surging warships and aircraft to the Middle East amid the escalating Israeli onslaught against Iran.
On Monday, US President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, “IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON … Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!”
Shortly after making that post, Trump left the G7 summit in Canada for Washington D.C., where he instructed US national security staff to convene in the Situation Room.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that “because of what’s going on in the Middle East, President Trump will be leaving tonight after dinner with Heads of State.”
Earlier in the day, Trump told reporters, “as soon as I leave here, we’re going to be doing something.”
CNN reported that Trump had refused to sign a joint G7 communique that would have called for a negotiated settlement of Israel’s war against Iran.
On Monday, Reuters reported that the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier strike group had left the Pacific and was steaming for the Middle East. The Nimitz is part of a strike group of destroyers and submarines and carries more than 60 aircraft and over 5,000 personnel.
The US also sent 31 aircraft refueling tankers, including KC-135s and KC-46s, to Europe from where they could operate in the skies over the Middle East.
Reuters commented that the deployments “suggest the United States is greatly strengthening its air power for potentially sustained operations.”
It cited Eric Schouten at Dyami Security Intelligence as saying, “The sudden eastward deployment of over two dozen U.S. Air Force tankers is not business as usual. It’s a clear signal of strategic readiness … this move shows the U.S. is positioning itself for rapid escalation.”
Israel has been relentlessly bombarding Iran since Friday and claims to have achieved total air superiority in the skies over Iran after having destroyed its missile defense systems. Israel used nuclear negotiations perfidiously initiated by the US as cover to assassinate top Iranian civilian and military leaders, including a senior nuclear negotiator.
The US has over 40,000 troops deployed in the Middle East, together with hundreds of aircraft and dozens of warships.
Critically, last month, the US deployed B-52 bombers, which are capable of carrying large bunker-busting munitions, within striking distance of Iran.
On Monday, Israeli bombs and missiles struck a wider range of targets in Iran, including an attack on journalists at the Iranian news agency ISNA in Tehran as they were on the air. At least 224 people have been killed in Iran and 1,481 wounded. These figures, however, are broadly seen as a significant underestimation.
Following Trump’s post, streets were clogged in Tehran as people rushed to evacuate despite widespread fuel shortages.
In an article published Monday, the New York Times reported on the degree of advanced planning involved in using the US bunker-busting bombs to attack Iran’s deeply-buried uranium enrichment plant at Fordo.
The Times reported, “over the past two years the U.S. military has refined the operation, under close White House scrutiny. The exercises led to the conclusion that one bomb would not solve the problem; any attack on Fordo would have to come in waves, with B-2s releasing one bomb after another down the same hole. And the operation would have to be executed by an American pilot and crew.”
On Monday, former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant called for the complete destruction of Iran’s nuclear program in an interview with CNN. “The job has to be done, by Israel, by the United States,” he stated, adding that the US has “the option to change the Middle East and influence the world.”
Over the weekend, Senator Lindsey Graham, a longtime advocate of war against Iran, said that “if diplomacy is not successful,” he would “urge President Trump to go all in to make sure that, when this operation is over, there’s nothing left standing in Iran regarding their nuclear program.” He added, “If it means flying with Israel, fly with Israel.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in an interview that he endorsed the murder of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying, “It’s not going to escalate the conflict, it’s going to end the conflict.”
In a separate statement Monday, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich reiterated the US’s full backing for the attack on Iran, saying, “Trump isn’t telling us to stop.”
Iran’s Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran has been turned into a “bloodbath,” in the words of one doctor who spoke to the Guardian. “We were overwhelmed by chaos and the screams of grieving family members. Dozens upon dozens of people with life-threatening injuries, minor wounds and even bodies were brought in.”
He added, “I’ve seen toddlers, teenagers, adults and the elderly alike. Profusely bleeding mothers were rushing in with their children injured by shrapnel.” He added, “We haven’t had the time to eat or drink. I fear after this morning we are going to have more bodies coming in.”
In a report published Monday, NBC News reported that Trump was briefed on Israeli plans when he met with military leaders at Camp David in Maryland. A critical turning point came at a discussion between Trump and Netanyahu on Monday, in which “Trump had grown convinced that Israel was going to strike and was starting to put more pieces into place to help support the strike.”
NBC added, “Soon after that conversation last Monday, the Pentagon directed European Command to send a Navy destroyer to sit off Israel to help defend it in the likely event of a counterattack from Tehran, joining two more and a carrier strike group already there.”
In the days ahead of the Israeli strikes, the US began to divert weapons to the Middle East, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying last week that 20,000 US anti-drone missiles initially slated to go to Ukraine had been diverted to the Middle East.