A distinctly Trumpian sense of danger is gathering over the Middle East.
After months of apparent restraint, Donald Trump now seems to be preparing for a new wave of attacks on Iran.
The US president has assembled one of the largest American naval deployments seen in the Arabian Sea in decades.
Two of the US Navy’s most powerful aircraft carriers, the USS George Washington and USS George H.W. Bush, are already operating in the area alongside a heavily armed flotilla of 17 warships, including the USS Boxer amphibious readiness group.
A third carrier strike group, led by the $4.5 billion (£3.3 billion) USS Theodore Roosevelt, is also moving towards the Middle East from the Philippine Sea. It is accompanied by the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit amphibious assault force.
The battle group is expected to arrive within days, taking the number of American sailors and Marines in the region above 20,000.
Together, the three carriers can deploy roughly 150 aircraft, including F-35 stealth fighters and F/A-18 Super Hornets.
The US Navy previously had three carrier strike groups operating in the Middle East in April, the first such deployment since 2003.
But the latest military build-up has raised the prospect of a major offensive after the US midterm elections conclude on Tuesday. Trump had previously indicated that he would not order attacks before then.
A new series of threats from the US president in recent days has intensified fears that he is preparing to resume the war, a move that could plunge the Middle East into renewed chaos.
Donald Trump has massed troops in the Middle East amid concerns he will launch a fresh attack on Iran after the US midterms conclude next week
America has deployed a third carrier group, led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt (pictured)
Tensions rose further on Friday when Trump appeared to suggest that his confrontation with Iran was nearing its final stage.
“It’s going to get wrapped up soon,” Trump told KCMO, a Kansas City radio station, without explaining what he meant.
“We need a guarantee there’ll never be a nuclear weapon,” he added.
US claims that Tehran is developing nuclear weapons have been disputed. Previous assessments by American intelligence agencies, including the Central Intelligence Agency, concluded that Iran did not possess such weapons.
Even so, Trump is understood to be considering fresh air strikes against Iran, which has so far resisted earlier attacks.
“Do I finish it off, which would be very easy to do, or do I make a deal? It’s getting to be decision time,” the 80-year-old billionaire told Fox News earlier this week.
At a rally in Florida last week, Trump also told supporters: “We may do another little Epic Fury,” referring to the American bombing campaign.
In one of the clearest indications yet that Washington could be preparing another offensive, Gulf allies have reportedly been instructed to brace for a “short, intense military campaign”, according to The Wall Street Journal.
A White House official said: “We do not comment on sensitive military plans that may or may not exist. President Trump keeps all options on the table to ensure that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon.”
One potential target is the Pickaxe Mountain nuclear facility, a heavily protected underground site in central Iran.
Among the main targets Washington could seek to attack include the Pickaxe Mountain nuclear facility hidden in central Iran (pictured in June 2026)
The secretive underground complex was struck by the US in 2025, when B-2 stealth bombers dropped bunker-busting bombs after flying from Whiteman Air Force Base across the Atlantic.
Trump has already suggested that the facility remains on his target list. Speaking to Fox News last week, he said: “We can read the badge on somebody’s shirt from space, okay? We know exactly what’s going on at Pickaxe Mountain. We know the other three [nuclear sites] are obliterated.”
The naval build-up, combined with dozens of advanced fighter aircraft, would also give the US the ability to fire large salvoes of cruise missiles at Iranian targets.
That arsenal could be directed at Iran’s electricity network in an attempt to plunge cities into darkness.
Trump previously threatened to attack Iran’s most important power stations, saying the US would begin with “the biggest one first” during the opening phase of the war.
The president did not carry out that threat at the time, but could revive it if the bombing campaign resumes after the midterms.
Iran’s largest energy facility is the Damavand Combined Cycle Power Plant, located on the outskirts of Tehran province.
The facility, also known as the Pakdasht plant, has a generating capacity of about 2,900 megawatts—enough to supply electricity to several major cities.
Other major Iranian power stations include the Kerman plant in the country’s southeast, which can produce approximately 1,910 megawatts, and the Ramin power plant in Khuzestan, with a capacity of around 1,890 megawatts.
Iranian missiles ‘Zolfaghar’ on display at the Azadi square in Tehran, Iran
America previously struck Iran’s remote ‘Eagle 44’ underground air force base in March
An image taken from inside the remote underground air base, located deep in the mountains
Other possible targets include military installations, drone and missile production sites, and major weapons depots.
The US previously attacked Iran’s remote Eagle 44 underground air base in late March. The facility is buried deep in a mountainous region in the south of the country.
The strikes left large craters at and around the tunnel entrances leading to aircraft shelters concealed beneath a mountain ridge. The runways were also damaged and rendered unusable.
Reports last week, however, indicated that Iran had carried out extensive repairs and restored the runways.
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The base, along with what remains of Iran’s air force and drone fleet, could be used for limited attacks on American ships. That could make it one of the sites US commanders would seek to destroy.
Any American air operation would probably receive support from Israel.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, had been planning to resume attacks on Iran ahead of the Israeli elections but was reportedly stopped by the country’s military.
Tehran has repeatedly warned that it would retaliate by striking a broad range of targets across the region, including US bases and military and civilian infrastructure in the Gulf states.
The US military has recently flown additional Patriot systems into the region to reinforce missile defences, after supplies were depleted during the opening exchanges of the war.
Iranians drive past billboards featuring Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei on a street in Tehran, Iran, on October 28
A series of C-17 military transport aircraft has also reportedly arrived in the Middle East and Israel. Open-source intelligence analysts have linked those flights to the movement of Patriot batteries.
US forces have also been moved away from bases considered vulnerable to an Iranian counterattack, officials familiar with the deployments told The Wall Street Journal.
Earlier this month, the US withdrew its B-1, B-2 and B-52 bombers from RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire after an alleged Iranian sabotage plot was thwarted.
As Trump weighs his options, he has reportedly received a rare face-to-face briefing from one of the country’s senior military commanders.
Admiral Brad Cooper, head of Central Command and the officer responsible for US operations across the Middle East, briefed Trump on Thursday. The Wall Street Journal reported that he outlined the conflict’s latest developments and possible next steps.
The senior naval officer is also said to have held a separate high-level meeting with General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Vice President JD Vance.
The meetings involving senior politicians and military leaders have added to speculation that Trump is preparing another round of strikes against Tehran.
Two US officials told CNN that American forces could begin a new and potentially extensive operation against Iran within 96 hours of receiving an order from Trump.
The reported operation would be broader than previous attacks on radar systems, missile launchers and other Iranian equipment that can quickly be rebuilt.
“It will be a big effort,” one official told CNN.
The US Army is reportedly delivering Patriot missiles systems into the Middle East
In the United States, meanwhile, soldiers have been training for the grim task of preparing mass graves for fallen service members.
During an exercise at the US Army’s Fort Bragg, North Carolina, camp last week, engineers dug trenches that could serve as temporary burial sites during a large-scale conflict.
Mass graves have not been used by the US military since the Korean War. In more recent conflicts, including Iraq and Afghanistan, American forces maintained air superiority, allowing fallen soldiers to be evacuated from war zones quickly.
The exercise suggests the military is placing renewed emphasis on relearning procedures that have not been required for decades.
American soldiers dug several basic trenches, each capable of holding 20 bodies. The burial plots were completed in slightly more than an hour.
“This exercise allowed us to take a critical look at how we respect, honor, and systematically manage our fallen in a high-intensity conflict,” said Sgt. 1st Class Delbert Ruede.
“If we went to war tomorrow, we would be making this up as we went along. What we are doing here is taking a scientific, field-tested approach so that we can maintain positive control and respectfully care for our fallen.”
Although the signs point increasingly towards possible US strikes, diplomatic efforts to prevent further escalation are continuing.
In recent weeks, Qatari officials have served as intermediaries between Washington and Tehran as the two sides seek a deal to end the conflict.
Diplomats from the oil-rich Gulf state reportedly delivered a US draft proposal on Friday aimed at bringing the hostilities to an end.
A source familiar with the negotiations told CBS News that the document followed an earlier draft presented by mediators last Sunday.
Aircraft fly over USS George HW Bush aircraft carrier, which is staged in the Middle East
Iran was expected to respond to the latest attempt to prevent a renewed military confrontation sometime this weekend.
Diplomatic contacts have intensified in recent days, with the US vice president credited with pushing for the new talks.
Iran has also continued to promote its own plan for ending the war. Tehran has said it would reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days and establish a path towards a permanent cessation of hostilities.
Trump dismissed that proposal last month.
In a social media post earlier this week, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragachi said Tehran “continues to give diplomacy a chance to succeed”.
He cautioned, however, that any “Israel-instigated military misadventure” in the Gulf would have a “devastating impact” on international markets.
Gulf governments have also urged Washington and Tehran to show restraint. The United Arab Emirates’ Foreign Ministry called on both sides to “exercise wisdom and pursue political solutions to help contain tensions”.
The conflict has so far cost $47.1 billion, according to Pentagon estimates, while global oil prices have surged.
The US is also believed to have used roughly half of its Tomahawk cruise missile stockpile, half of its Patriot missiles and almost all of its long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems and precision-strike missiles.
