Topline
President Donald Trump urged Iranian leaders to “come to the table” and negotiate a deal with the United States to bar them from developing nuclear weapons or the next attack “will be far worse,” warning a ‘massive armada’ was heading towards Iran.
The president said a large fleet was headed towards Iran.
Anadolu via Getty Images
Key Facts
Trump insisted that if Iran would not reach a deal with the U.S., “next attack will be far worse,” mentioning the U.S.’s previous air strikes on Iranian nuclear sites last June.
The U.S. Navy’s Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group arrived in the Middle East earlier this week the military confirmed, including the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, in order to “promote regional security and stability.
Trump said the aircraft carrier was “ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary,” and cited the recent intervention in Venezuela that saw U.S. forces capture the country’s President Nicolas Maduro.
Crucial Quote
“Time is running out, it is truly of the essence! As I told Iran once before, MAKE A DEAL!” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday. “They didn’t, and there was ‘Operation Midnight Hammer,’ a major destruction of Iran,” referring to the operation that bombed three Iranian nuclear sites last year.
Key Background
Trump’s most recent push to secure a nuclear deal with Iran comes only weeks after the president threatened military strikes against the Middle Eastern nation if it began executing protesters. The nation, which has been under the rule of a theocratic authoritarian government since the Iranian Revolution of 1979, faced a round of widespread protests beginning in December over worsening economic conditions, including rising inflation and the collapse of the Iranian rial. The protests spread across cities in all of Iran’s 31 provinces, and the death toll eventually grew to an estimated 6,221, the Associated Press reported citing the Human Rights Activists News Agency. Tens of thousands of people were arrested during the protests, according to the group, and Trump threatened military intervention if the Iranian government began executions of protesters. However, Trump stood down after he said the U.S. received information there was “no plan for executions.”
Tangent
Although Trump escalated his rhetoric against Iran on Wednesday morning, two key U.S. allies in the region already said they would not allow the U.S. military to use their airspace for attacks on the country. Both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates said they would not allow their territory to be used for attacks against Iran. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman confirmed this position to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in a phone call on Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacharyfolk/2026/01/28/trump-tells-iran-massive-armada-is-heading-its-way-as-he-urges-nuclear-deal/
