President Trump confirmed the deployment of the USS Gerald R. Ford and said he believed negotiations with Iran would be “successful.”
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President Donald Trump said he would send a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East as the United States ramps up pressure on Iran over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
On Friday, President Trump spoke at the White House and confirmed that the USS Gerald R. Ford would leave the Caribbean for the Middle East “immediately,” amid tensions still high after indirect talks in Oman last week.
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“It’s a tremendous force that we will have if we need it,” Trump said, adding that he believed the negotiations would be “successful” and warning that it would be a “bad day for Iran” if Iran failed to reach a deal.
President Trump then said regime change in Iran would be “the best thing that could happen.”
“For 47 years, they have been speaking and speaking. During that time, we have lost many lives,” he said, apparently referring to Tehran’s crackdown on recent anti-government protests that left thousands of people dead.
Gerald R. Ford’s impending departure is part of an ongoing military buildup in the region, which has seen the deployment of the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, several guided-missile destroyers, fighter jets and reconnaissance planes in recent weeks.
President Trump’s comments came days after he met in Washington with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said he expected a “good deal” but expressed reservations if any deal did not curb Iran’s ballistic missile program. The Iranian government has publicly rejected US pressure to discuss the missiles.
Since Israel waged a 12-day war against Iran in June, Netanyahu has repeatedly called for more military action, and the United States briefly joined in by attacking three Iranian nuclear facilities in an operation dubbed “Midnight Hammer.”
President Trump said at the time that the U.S. attack had “completely destroyed” the nuclear facility.
The indirect talks between the United States and Iran were the first to be held since the June conflict, which halted previous negotiations between Iran and the United States over a possible replacement of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which President Trump abandoned during his first term in office.
risk of escalation
Under the JCPOA, an agreement between Iran, the United States, and several European powers, the Iranian government was to scale back its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
Following President Trump’s unilateral withdrawal in 2018, Iran has since begun enriching uranium beyond the limits set in the deal, but has repeatedly denied Western claims that it is seeking nuclear weapons.
Trump, who took office for a second time in January, initially sought a new nuclear deal with Iran, but quickly adopted a zero-enrichment policy that Iranian negotiators had long dismissed as unreachable.
As recent attempts at negotiations continue, the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, is struggling to get Iran to agree to inspections of facilities targeted in the 12-day war.
Inspector General Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the Munich Security Conference that inspectors had returned to Iran after a 12-day war but were unable to visit the targeted facilities.
Grossi said the dialogue with Iran since the inspectors’ return last year has been “incomplete, complex and extremely difficult, but it still exists.”
The US president’s comments on Friday confirm his previous indications that he is considering sending the Gerald R. Ford, which has a nuclear reactor and can carry more than 75 military aircraft, to the region.
Gulf Arab states have warned that any attack could escalate into a new regional conflict in a region still affected by Israel’s genocidal war against Gaza.
