U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered a “massive” U.S. naval force to move toward Iran, even as he suggested the armada may ultimately not be used, amid escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One while returning from Davos after attending the World Economic Forum, Trump said the deployment was precautionary.
“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.
“We have an armada. We have a massive fleet heading in that direction, and maybe we won’t have to use it. We’ll see.”
The move comes as Iranian officials issued stern warnings to both the United States and Israel. Mohammad Pakpour, chief commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, cautioned against any “miscalculation,” warning it could lead to a “more painful and regret-inducing fate.”
Pakpour said Iranian forces were on high alert, adding that they had their “fingers on the trigger” and were fully prepared to act on orders from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Fears of a potential U.S. strike intensified during Iran’s December–January protests, after Trump publicly warned he could intervene if Iranian authorities used force against demonstrators. The U.S. president had repeatedly urged Iranians to take control of institutions “if possible,” stating that the United States was “locked and loaded” to protect protesters.
Iranian authorities have accused the U.S. and Israel of fuelling the unrest and violence. Iran’s Foreign Minister, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, said earlier this week that U.S. threats had encouraged what he described as a strategy of “maximum bloodshed.”
In a televised address last Saturday, Ayatollah Khamenei condemned Trump, saying he considered the U.S. president “criminal for the casualties, damages and slander he inflicted on the Iranian nation.”
According to Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB, 3,117 people were killed during the unrest, with 2,427 classified as “innocent civilians and security forces,” underscoring the scale of the crisis as tensions between the two countries continue to mount.
