The US president said that “great forces are heading towards Iran” and that as tensions with Iran escalate, “it would be better for nothing to happen.”
Published January 23, 2026
US President Donald Trump said a US Navy “fleet” was heading to the Gulf region with a focus on Iran, and officials said an aircraft carrier strike group and other assets would arrive in the Middle East within days.
“We’re watching Iran very closely,” President Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Thursday as he returned from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
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President Trump said, “We have great leverage going toward Iran.”
“It would be better if nothing happens, but we are monitoring closely,” he said.
“And we probably won’t have to use it…We have a lot of ships heading in that direction, just in case, we have a large fleet heading in that direction, and we’ll see what happens,” he added.
President Trump’s announcement about the U.S. naval buildup comes after he appeared to back away from a threat of military action against Iran last week after receiving assurances from Tehran that it would not execute protesters.
President Trump’s confirmation that military preparations will continue in the region comes after US media reported last week that the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln and its strike group were ordered to divert to the Middle East from exercises in the South China Sea.
In a speech Thursday, President Trump reiterated that his previous threat to use force against Tehran had prevented Iranian authorities from executing more than 800 protesters, and reiterated his readiness to talk with the country’s leadership.
Iranian authorities have denied plans to execute people who took part in widespread anti-government protests that began in late December and left 3,117 people dead, including 2,427 civilians and members of the security forces, according to Iranian state media.
President Trump said in an interview with CNBC on Wednesday that he hoped there would be no further U.S. military action against Iran, but said the U.S. would take action if Iran resumed its nuclear program.
“They can’t develop nuclear weapons,” Trump told CNBC in an interview in Davos.
“If they do that, the same thing will happen again,” the president said, referring to the June 2025 airstrike on Iran’s nuclear facilities when the United States joined Israel’s 12-day war against Iran.
The U.S. government last ordered a major military buildup in the Middle East ahead of the June attacks, but officials later bragged about how they kept Tehran’s nuclear program secret at the time.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Aragushi warned the United States in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday that he would “fight back with all our might” if Iran is attacked.
“Our powerful military will have no hesitation in fighting back with all its might in the event of a new attack,” the minister said.
Arraguchi said his warning was not a threat. “As a diplomat and a veteran who hates war, it is a reality that I feel needs to be made clear.”
“An all-out showdown would certainly be intense and last far longer than the fantasy timeline that Israel and its proxies are trying to impose on the White House.”
“It will definitely involve a wider region and impact ordinary people around the world,” he added.
