Trump ‘identifies date for strike on Iran’ as world’s largest aircraft carrier heads to the Middle East

Donald Trump may soon make a decision on a military strike on Iran, with the US military poised to launch a possible attack by the end of this week.

In recent days, American military assets have been established in the Middle East ahead of a possible attack. CNN reported.

“He’s spending a lot of time thinking about this,” a source told the network, adding that Trump found himself arguing both for and against military action.

Trump has also spent his final days conducting informal polls with aides and military advisers on what to do, but it remains unclear when the president will make the final call.

The Daily Mail has reached out to the White House for comment.

Earlier on Wednesday, it emerged that the president was on the verge of giving the green light to a ‘major, weeks-long’ military operation against Iran that could be seen as an all-out war.

Diplomatic talks led by Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner and envoy Steve Witkoff reportedly made little progress Tuesday after Tehran refused to meet Trump’s demand to halt all nuclear development, according to J.D. Vance.

Sources tell Axios that the campaign will have a broader goal of regime change against the Ayatollah. The United States and Israel will also launch the operation with a joint military effort.

Satellite image shows a general view of the Fordow underground complex after the US struck the underground nuclear facility near the Iranian city of Qom last June

The potential war would be the most dramatic and significant military invasion since the Iraq war in 2003 and would have major implications for the remainder of Trump’s presidency.

Trump’s navy off Iran’s coast has expanded in recent days to include two aircraft carriers, a dozen warships and hundreds of fighter jets equipped with advanced air defense systems.

More firepower is on the way, with 150 military cargo flights launching in the last 24 hours to rapidly transport weapons systems and ammunition to US Middle East bases.

Dozens of U.S. fighter jets, including F-35s, F-22s and F-16s, have departed for the Middle East in recent days from bases in the United States and Europe, according to the Military Airborne Surveillance Alliance, a group of about 30 open-source analysts who routinely analyze military and government flight activity.

The team also said it tracked more than 85 fuel tankers and more than 170 cargo planes heading to the area.

Canada-based researcher and MATA member Steffan Watkins said he also detected support aircraft, such as six of the army’s early warning E-3 planes, which went to a base in Saudi Arabia.

These aircraft are key to coordinating operations with large numbers of aircraft. He says they were pulled from bases in Japan, Germany and Hawaii.

A war with Iran could come as Republicans brace for a tough midterm election cycle, fighting to preserve their congressional majority and prevent Trump from becoming a lame-duck president.

USS Gerald R Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, is among the military armada advancing to the Middle East

The potential war would be the most dramatic and significant military invasion since the Iraq war in 2003 and would have significant consequences for the remainder of Trump’s presidency.

Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said he “can’t get past this president” when asked about potential U.S. military action against Iran.

But he insisted that Trump could not act alone in conducting military operations.

“The American people are of the view that, of course, Congress should approve any act of war — consistent with our constitutional responsibility — before any adverse military action is taken unilaterally by Donald Trump and the Republicans,” Jeffries said. he said.

Trump’s preparations for war came as Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz for a military exercise in a move that served as a warning to the world if Trump orders an attack.

The temporary closure of parts of the strait came after Iranian news agencies reported live-fire drills in the vital waterway through which 20 percent of the world’s oil passes.

The rare move signals Tehran’s potential impact on the world economy if the United States threatens to attack it as tensions rise between the two countries.

In past times of tension and conflict, Iran has occasionally harassed ships passing through narrow passages, and during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, both sides attacked tankers and other ships, using naval mines to completely block traffic at some points.

But Iran has not repeatedly threatened to completely close the waterway since the 1980s, even during last year’s 12-day war in which Israel and the United States bombed Iran’s key nuclear and military facilities.

The scope and impact of Tuesday’s closure were not immediately known. Iranian media said that this visit would last a few hours due to ‘security and maritime concerns’.

Trump had previously been preparing for a military strike against Iran at the beginning of the year over the mass killing of thousands of Iranian protesters by the regime.

Regional allies, including Türkiye and Saudi Arabia, have called on the White House to step back from the attack out of concern it could lead to a broader regional war with the Ayatollah.

After Trump backed away from a swift strike, the administration launched a massive military naval buildup off the coast of Iran while demanding nuclear talks.

Meanwhile, senior regime leaders, including the Ayatollah, issued threatening messages vowing to kill US soldiers after they refused to yield to Trump’s demands.