The United States is massing additional forces in the Middle East for potential action against Iran, as more than 50 F-35, F-22 and F-16 fighter jets were dispatched to the region in the past 24 hours, an Axios report said, citing open-source airborne radar data and a US official.
This comes as Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said they had reached a broad understanding on a number of guiding principles that would serve as a basis for moving forward and drafting the text of a potential deal.
Araghchi added that the discussions in Geneva were “serious, constructive and positive”, noting that “compared to the previous meeting, good progress has been made and we now have a clearer path ahead”.
He informed Iran’s state television that various ideas were presented and seriously discussed. He added that this does not mean an agreement will be reached soon, but it does mark the beginning of the process.
Iran on Tuesday announced the temporary closure of the Strait of Hormuz for a live-fire drill in a rare show of force.
US President Donald Trump, who abandoned the Iran nuclear deal during his first administration, has consistently warned against using force to pressure Iran to agree to curtail its nuclear program. Iran has mentioned that it will retaliate, while Trump has also warned Iran about the protesters being killed.
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By the end of January, the United States sent its aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln to the Arabian Sea as tensions escalated. In the first week of February, the BBC reported that around twelve F-15 fighter jets, an MQ-9 Reaper drone and several A-10C Thunderbolt II ground-based aircraft were also deployed to Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan.
USS Gerald R. Ford and her escorting destroyers Mahan, Bainbridge and Winston Churchill moved into the mid-Atlantic and officially left the US Southern Command zone.
According to the AP, the official noted that at the current pace, the strike group is still at least a week away from Iran’s coast. The shift follows a recent flare-up in which US forces shot down an Iranian drone near the USS Lincoln, shortly after Iran attempted to intercept a US vessel in the Strait of Hormuz.
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Arab countries along the Persian Gulf have warned that any strike could escalate into a wider regional conflict as the Middle East continues to grapple with the aftermath of the war between Israel and Hamas.
The Trump administration is pushing for a deal that would limit Iran’s nuclear activities and prevent it from developing nuclear weapons. Tehran says its nuclear program is peaceful and has refused to halt domestic enrichment of uranium or surrender its stockpile of highly enriched material.
The talks between Washington and Tehran took place for months before Israel launched a 12-day standoff with Iran in June that halted the talks. During the fighting, the US carried out strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, likely destroying numerous centrifuges used to enrich near-weapons-grade uranium. The Israeli strikes also severely weakened Iran’s air defense systems and hit parts of its ballistic missiles.
Before the June conflict, Iran had enriched uranium to 60% purity, technically just a short step from weapons-grade material.
(With input from agencies)