The danger of war between the US and Iran seems increasingly real after US President Donald Trump warned Tehran that time was running out and that a huge American armada was moving rapidly towards the country “with great force, enthusiasm and purpose“, writes the “Guardian“.
In a post on social networks yesterday, Trump said that the armada, led by the aircraft carrier “Abraham Lincoln“, was larger than the one sent against Venezuela before the removal of President Nicolas Maduro from power earlier this month, and was “ready to immediately carry out its mission with speed and force if necessary“, the publication points out.
It was the clearest signal yet that Trump intends to to take some kind of military strike soon if Iran refuses to negotiate a deal on the future of its nuclear program, the Guardian notes.
Trump came close to approving strikes on Iran earlier this month, but on January 14 he changed his mind after some of his advisers and Middle Eastern partners warned him that without a greater buildup of combat power in the region, it could be difficult to deal with subsequent counterstrikes from Iran, the Washington Post reports.
Amid concerns about their vulnerability to Iranian attacks, US allies in the Middle East have lobbied Trump to delay an attack on Iran, the newspaper notes.
Concerns about the scale and scope of an Iranian counterstrike appear to have played a central role in Trump's decision-making process, the publication comments.
American and European officials representatives say they have put three demands before the Iranians - a permanent halt to uranium enrichment and destruction of current stockpiles, limiting the range and number of ballistic missiles and ending all support for groups in the Middle East, including Hamas, Hezbollah and Yemen's Houthis, the New York Times reported.
It is noteworthy that these demands - and Trump's publication in Truth Social - lack any reference to the rights of protesters who took to the streets in Iran in December and caused the latest crisis for the government, the newspaper commented. In his previous posts on social media, Trump promised to help the Iranian protesters, but in recent weeks he has almost completely stopped mentioning them, the publication notes.
Although some observers believe that the window for US action in relation to the repression of the protests in Iran is closed - there have been no new protests in the country for several days - the new buildup of US military power in the region again raises questions about Washington's intentions, writes the British newspaper “Telegraph“.
The publication quotes Michael Hanna, director of the US program at the think tank International Crisis Group, who believes that “it is foolish to make predictions about what Trump will do“.
“However, it is clear that the US position in the region is now very different“ even compared to the beginning of the month, Hanna concludes.