Iran is ‘bringing war upon itself’ after Trump sends warplanes to region
Just a day after warning Iran to make a deal, the United States appears to be sending refuelling planes to key points in the region.
Dozens of planes are headed towards the Middle East as tensions between Iran and the US reach a breaking point after nuclear talks.
It comes as one Trump adviser told Axios: ‘The boss is getting fed up. Some people around him warn him against going to war with Iran, but I think there is 90% chance we see kinetic action in the next few weeks.’
Sources have suggested that any conflict would likely be a joint operation with Israel.
Security expert Will Geddes told Metro the influx of military equipment to the region is a show of force from Donald Trump, telling the Ayatollah to comply and step down.
He explained: ‘The big challenge is that the Ayatollah is not going to stand down. Khamenei has openly taunted Trump, saying he’ll send U.S. warships to the bottom of the sea if he tries anything.
‘If there is any action—and though Donald Trump hasn’t given an attack order yet—we are going to see a monumental display of U.S. military strength against Iran.’
What would a US war with Iran look like?
Last month, the US moved the USS Abraham Lincoln and several guided missile destroyers into the region, which can be used to launch attacks from the sea.
As fears of a US attack in Iran mount, Dr Bamo Nouri, a professor in International Relations at the University of West London, told Metro that a conflict launched by the US would be easy to start – but hard to control.
‘An outright war would carry enormous and unpredictable costs for both sides. For Washington, military strikes could backfire by unifying Iran domestically, accelerating its nuclear programme rather than halting it, and pulling the US into a prolonged regional confrontation,’ he explained.
‘For Iran, direct war with the United States would threaten regime stability and risk devastating infrastructure losses.’
Dr Nouri said that structurally, neither Iran nor the US would benefit from a full-scale war.
‘What we are seeing now is still pre-negotiation positioning, not even the first full stage of structured diplomacy, where both sides test leverage before any serious political concessions are put on the table,’ he said.
‘This still looks more like high-risk brinkmanship designed to shape negotiations rather than an imminent decision for all-out war.’
Geddes observed: ‘Right now, the US will be mapping the country to ensure strikes hit regime assets rather than civilians – nuclear development capabilities and military assets, ultimately pushing to disable the regime’s military power and pressure them to leave.
‘I don’t think we’ll see a ‘President Maduro’ situation here, but as with other dictators in the past—like Bashar al-Assad in Syria—we may see the Ayatollah being told: ‘Take your money and disappear,’ he explained.
The US won’t make any moves until all assets in the region are in place – but something to watch is the warnings issued to the maritime industry.
Iran has been conducting military drills in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane in the Red Sea.
Any military action would be preceded by an advisory to the maritime industry, essentially telling them to ‘hold tight’, Geddes said.
He added: ‘Ultimately, Iran is bringing it on themselves. In any negotiation—whether it’s international diplomacy or a kidnapping—there has to be a concession on both sides.’
Today, satellite images showed that Iran has built a concrete shield over a new facility at a sensitive military site and covered it in soil, experts say.
Images also show that Iran has buried tunnel entrances at a nuclear site bombed by the U.S. during Israel’s 12-day war with Iran last year, fortified tunnel entrances near another, and has repaired missile bases struck in the conflict.
They offer a glimpse of Iranian activities at some of the sites at the centre of tensions with Israel and the U.S., as Washington seeks to negotiate a deal with Tehran on its nuclear programme while threatening military action if talks fail.
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