US-Iran all-out-war fears erupt: Israel readies forces as Donald Trump is briefed on launching strikes

US military action against the Iranian regime appears now only to be waiting for US President Donald Trump to issue the command, as neighbouring countries in the Middle East are readying emergency forces to prepare for war.

On Wednesday, local time, the Wall Street Journal confirmed the Mr Trump had been brief on possibly military action against Iran, something that multiple sourced claim could begin this weekend.

The report also claimed that Mr Trump had ordered 1000 US military officers to leave Syria.

An enormous US military buildup has established itself near Iran, with warships, fighter jets and refuelling crafts now sitting ready across strategic locations and bases in the Middle East, Africa and waters of the Gulf region.

Israel and Turkey, both close allies of the US, have reported taken action to ready forces.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu has instructed the country’s Home Front Command to prepare for potential war, Israeli outlet Yedioth Ahnonoth reported.

“In Israel, assessments indicate that US President Donald Trump is inclined to launch a large-scale military attack on Iran soon, given Tehran’s rejection of US demands in the negotiations,” the outlet said.

“The Trump administration believes the Iranians are trying to buy time and deceive the United States.”

Israel expect Iran would launch strikes at them if a US attack was carried out, with the reporting adding “there is an impression in Israel that zero hour is approaching and that timelines are shrinking.”

Trump’s warning to Iran ignored

For months, the US President has warned Iran over nuclear talks and agreements and the regime’s violent suppression of internal protests.

The US Department of War has moved key military assets from the China Sea, somewhere the US rarely moves away from, to the Gulf, preparing for possible action against Iran.

“A massive Armada is heading to Iran. It is moving quickly, with great power, enthusiasm, and purpose,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social at the end of January.

“It is, ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfil its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary.”

Mr Trump, at the stage, said he hoped Iran would quickly “come to the table” and agree to having no nuclear weapons, but warned them his patience was wearing thin.

“Time is running out, it is truly of the essence! As I told Iran once before, MAKE A DEAL! They didn’t, and there was ‘Operation Midnight Hammer,’ a major destruction of Iran. The next attack will be far worse! Don’t make that happen again.”

Size of US strikes could be unfathomable

CNN has reported claims from sources that the possible scale of US military action would dwarf that of previous strikes in 2025, including when Mr Trump ordered bunker buster bombs to be dropped on nuclear sites in Iran as part of Operation Midnight Hammer.

The fears of all-out-war between Iran and the US comes after so-far failed talks regarding the countries nuclear program, something the US claimed to obliterate in Midnight Hammer.

At the time of that strike, following the B2 bombers dropping 14 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs, Iran claimed their stockpiles were safe.

Then, the bombs were dropped as fears of nuclear strikes from Iran targeting Israel grew.

On Thursday, reports emerged about secretive, high-tech US military drones gathering intelligence in the Gulf.

The MQ-4 Triton remote controlled intelligence drone was confirmed to have taken off from a United Arab Emirates air base on Wednesday local time, observed spending time over Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

Both countries are neighbours or Iran, near where the US has assembled its most powerful and deadly arsenal.

US military build up near Iran

Warships

Washington currently has 13 warships in the Middle East: one aircraft carrier - the USS Abraham Lincoln - nine destroyers and three littoral combat ships, with more on the way, according to a US official.

The USS Gerald R. Ford - the world’s largest aircraft carrier - is currently in the Atlantic Ocean en route from the Caribbean to the Middle East, after being ordered there by Mr Trump earlier this month. It is accompanied by three destroyers.

It is rare for there to be two US aircraft carriers - which carry dozens of warplanes and are crewed by thousands of sailors - in the Middle East.

Aircraft

The United States has also sent a large fleet of aircraft to the Middle East, according to open-source intelligence accounts on X and flight-tracking website Flightradar24.

These include F-22 Raptor stealth fighter jets, F-15 and F-16 warplanes, and the KC-135 aerial refuelling aircraft that are needed to sustain their operations.

On Wednesday, Flightradar24 showed multiple KC-135s flying near or in the Middle East, as well as E3 Sentry airborne warning and control aircraft and cargo planes operating in the region.

Protests, threats and talks

Mr Trump ordered the Lincoln warship to the Middle East as Iran cracked down on protests that were initially driven by economic grievances, but which turned into a mass movement against the Islamic republic.

The clerical leadership that took power after the 1979 Islamic revolution responded to the demonstrations with deadly force and has held onto power, with many opponents of the system looking to outside intervention as the most likely driver of change.

Mr Trump had repeatedly warned Iran that if it killed protesters, the United States would intervene militarily, and also encouraged Iranians to take over state institutions, saying “help is on the way.”

He pulled back from ordering strikes last month, saying Tehran had halted more than 800 executions under pressure from Washington, but has since renewed threats against Iran.

US and Iranian officials held talks in Geneva on Tuesday aimed at averting US military intervention, with Iran saying afterward that they had agreed on “guiding principles” for a deal.

But White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that while there was “a little bit of progress made,” the two sides are “still very far apart on some issues.”

Ms Leavitt also told journalists there are “many reasons and arguments that one could make for a strike against Iran,” adding: “Iran would be very wise to make a deal.”

- with AFP