At Board Of Peace Meet, Trump's "In Next 10 Days" Remark On Iran

US President Donald Trump said that Iran must make a "meaningful" deal as a huge American military buildup is taking place in the Middle East. Adding a threat, he said that the US "may have to take it further" and said, "You're going to be finding out over the next probably 10 days."

During an inaugural meeting of the "Board of Peace", Trump said, "It's proven to be over the years not easy to make a meaningful deal with Iran. We have to make a meaningful deal otherwise bad things happen."

The US and Iran recently resumed indirect talks, mediated by Oman, after Trump threatened military action against Iran over a deadly crackdown on protesters last month.

Just a day before, Trump suggested on Truth Social that the US might strike Iran. He warned Britain against giving up sovereignty over the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean, saying that the archipelago's Diego Garcia airbase might be needed were Iran not to agree a deal, "in order to eradicate a potential attack by a highly unstable and dangerous regime."

US To Strike Iran This Weekend?

Reports by CNN and CBS say that the US will be ready to launch strikes on Iran as early as this weekend.

According to a CNN report, the White House has been briefed that the military is ready for an attack by the weekend, but Trump remains unconvinced that it's the best course of action. Citing the source, the US publication reported that the American commander-in-chief has privately argued both for and against military action and polled advisers and allies on the best course of action. 

It remains unclear if he will make a decision by the weekend. "He is spending a lot of time thinking about this," a source said.

The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday that Trump has been briefed on his military options with "all of them designed to maximise damage," including a campaign to "kill scores of Iranian political and military leaders, with the goal of overthrowing the government," unnamed US officials told the newspaper.

On Wednesday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said that the country does not want war, but suggested that they could not give in to US demands either.

"From the day I took office, I have believed that war must be set aside. But if they are going to try to impose their will on us, humiliate us and demand that we bow our heads at any cost, should we accept that?"

An explosion during a military exercise by members of the IRGC and navy in the Strait of Hormuz
Photo Credit: AFP

US Military Buildup In The Middle East

Despite talks, the US has been building up military forces near Iran.

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 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.

The United States had two of the massive warships in the region in June last year when it targeted three Iranian nuclear sites during Israel's 12-day campaign of strikes on Iran.

Trump has also sent a large fleet of aircraft to the Middle East, according to open-source intelligence accounts on X and the 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.