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The United States has stepped up its major military build-up in the Middle East with the arrival of the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group on Sunday, Israeli media reported.
The report said that the deployment positions American forces near striking distance of Iran as tensions between Washington and Tehran surge.
Additionally, the US has deployed F-15E Strike Eagles to Jordan and B-52 bombers to Qatar, creating multiple strike options.
Israel's Channel 13 reported that the US aircraft carrier's arrival in the Middle East and positioning near Iran was part of "efforts to strengthen defences".
"In addition to the naval response, the US military is preparing to reinforce its ground-based defences as well, with a THAAD air defence battery expected to arrive in the coming days," the report said.
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newslettersIt added: "Israel hopes that the opening strike would include targeting Iranian missile stockpiles in order to reduce the severity of Iran’s response."
Senior officers in the Israeli military described the coming week as "critical" for the possibility of a US attack on Iran, the report added.
The strike group crossed the Strait of Malacca and made its way west into the Bay of Bengal on 19 January, after which it turned off its transponder and began travelling "dark", according to Marine Traffic.
On Friday, Fox news reported that the carrier strike group had "not yet arrived in the Centcom area of responsibility, and has not crossed the line of demarcation from IndoPacom to Centcom in the Indian Ocean," referring to the US Central Command and the US Indo-Pacific Command respectively.
US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he is sending an "armada" towards Iran, threatening Tehran against resuming its nuclear programme.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One after returning from meetings with world leaders in Davos, Switzerland, Trump said Washington was closely monitoring Iran as US naval assets moved into the region.
"We have a lot of ships going that direction, just in case," Trump said. "I’d rather not see anything happen, but we’re watching them very closely.
"We have an armada heading in that direction, and maybe we won’t have to use it."
US officials, speaking anonymously to Reuters, said the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and several guided-missile destroyers were expected to arrive in the Middle East in the coming days.
Trading threatsThe deployments expand Trump’s military options and come months after US attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities last June, which were widely seen as a violation of international law.
The warships began moving from the Asia-Pacific last week as tensions rose following a deadly crackdown on protests across Iran. Tehran has accused Washington of encouraging the unrest.
Iranian protesters reject US and Israeli interference
Read More »Trump repeatedly threatened intervention warning Iran against killing protesters, but possible US strikes appeared to have been called off after Iran reportedly gave the president assurances that planned executions would not take place.
Iran last week said at least 3,117 people were killed in the protests, though other sources, including human rights groups, estimate the death toll could be as high as 5,000 or more.
Trump said on Thursday that Iran cancelled nearly 840 executions after US warnings.
"I said, ‘If you hang those people, you’re going to be hit harder than you’ve ever been hit,’" Trump said. "It’ll make what we did to your nuclear programme look like peanuts."
He said the executions were cancelled an hour before they were due to take place, calling it "a good sign".
Iran has warned that it will strike Israel and US military bases in the event of attacks on Iranian territory.
Last week, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said that any attack on Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei would be "tantamount to a full-scale war on the Iranian nation".