US Military Assets Are Heading Toward Iran

It seems, for now, that President Trump has been talked out of a military strike on Iran, but that doesn't mean this is over. Fox News reports that military assets are currently heading for the Middle East. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP, File At least one U.S. aircraft carrier is being moved toward the Middle East as tensions with Iran continue to build, military sources confirm to Fox News. It is not yet clear whether the carrier is the USS Abraham Lincoln, currently operating in the South China Sea, or one of two carriers that departed Norfolk and San Diego earlier this week. Transit to the region is expected to take at least a week. U.S. military assets from air, land and sea are expected to flow into the region in the coming days and weeks to provide the president with military options should he decide to carry out strikes against Iran, sources said. It did seem, as recently as Tuesday, that Trump was gearing up for a strike on Iran but then something changed his mind. The WSJ reports that Trump was told a military strike was unlikely to succeed in taking down the regime . The U.S. would need more military firepower in the Middle East both to launch a large-scale strike and protect American forces in the region and allies such as Israel should Iran retaliate, the advisers told Trump, the officials said. The U.S. officials and Middle Eastern partners told the White House the regime was unlikely to fall after a massive bombing campaign, which could instead spark a broader conflict. Smaller assault packages, meanwhile, could boost morale among protesters but ultimately not change the regime’s crackdown, the officials said. Trump, without making a final decision on which action he would take, asked for military assets to be in place should he order a big attack, the officials said... U.S. allies in the region including Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have urged Trump in recent days not to attack Iran. Turkish foreign minister Hakan Fidan, who has been calling and meeting regional leaders including Iranian officials, said he was working to avoid a military escalation. “We do not want an intervention here,” he told a news conference in Istanbul on Thursday. Trump isn't interested in a symbolic gesture. If he's going to risk a strike, he wants it to be decisive. It probably also mattered that Iran appears to have backed off of plans to execute up to 800 people for participating in the protests. Trump seems convinced his pressure worked, though how long Iran will hold off seems like anyone's guess. There's also another possibility which Trump may be considering. Even if he can come up with a strike which devastates the current Iranian regime, there's no guarantee that what follows will be an improvement . Iran has no single, unified opposition movement that can slide in and take charge if the regime’s leaders are suddenly assassinated. Instead, Iran’s opposition is divided,...

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