Trump Talks “Armada” as US Warships Move Toward Iran

United States President Donald Trump says a US naval “armada” is heading toward the Gulf, with Iran squarely in focus, as American military assets reposition for what officials describe as heightened readiness in the Middle East.

“We’re watching Iran,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Thursday as he flew back from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“We have a big force going towards Iran,” he said, adding that he hoped it would not be used. “I’d rather not see anything happen, but we’re watching them very closely.”

Trump spoke in deliberately vague terms, suggesting the buildup was precautionary rather than imminent preparation for war. “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,” he said.

The comments follow reports in US media that the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and its strike group were diverted from exercises in the South China Sea and ordered toward the Middle East. The shift echoes the military posture Washington adopted last June, shortly before it joined Israel’s 12-day war with Iran and struck Iranian nuclear facilities.

Trump has recently tried to strike a more calibrated tone on Tehran. Last week, he appeared to back away from threats of immediate military action after saying he received assurances that Iran would not carry out mass executions of protesters. On Thursday, however, he confirmed that military preparations were continuing.

Iranian officials have denied any plans to execute protesters involved in the nationwide demonstrations that erupted in late December. Iranian state media have reported that 3,117 people were killed during the unrest, including civilians and members of the security forces.

In an interview with CNBC on Wednesday, Trump said he hoped further US military action could be avoided but warned that Washington would respond if Iran revived its nuclear programme.

“They can’t do the nuclear,” he said. “If they do it, it’s going to happen again,” referring to US air strikes on Iranian nuclear sites in June 2025.

The renewed tension has drawn sharp warnings from Tehran. Writing this week in The Wall Street Journal, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran would respond forcefully to any new attack.

“Our powerful armed forces have no qualms about firing back with everything we have if we come under renewed attack,” Araghchi wrote.

He insisted the message was not a threat. “But a reality I feel I need to convey explicitly, because as a diplomat and a veteran, I abhor war.”

An all-out confrontation, he warned, “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”.

“It will certainly engulf the wider region and have an impact on ordinary people around the globe,” he added.