Fox News: American carrier group is heading to the Middle East

According to the Fox News channel, citing military sources, at least one American aircraft carrier group has been set in motion and is heading to the Middle East amid an escalation of the situation and discussions of possible US actions against Iran.

It is unclear whether this is the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, which is located in the South China Sea, or one of two aircraft carriers that left US bases earlier in the week. The transition to the region, as noted, may take about a week.

A source familiar with the planning for the military operation told Fox News that if the US president decides, it could be “more offensive” than previously thought.

The day before, the American edition of The New York Times, citing an informed source, reported that the head of the Israeli government, Benjamin Netanyahu, asked US President Donald Trump to postpone the implementation of any plans for a military attack on Iran. According to the source, this request was made on Wednesday during a conversation between the leaders of Israel and the United States – the same day that Trump announced that he had received information from “important sources on the other side” that the Iranian regime had stopped killing protesters and would not carry out executions of protesters.

On January 16, CNN confirmed information about such a conversation between Netanyahu and Trump, citing its sources. At the same time, it was indicated that the Israeli leadership is concerned about the readiness of the missile defense and air defense systems to repel Iranian attacks, as well as the fact that air strikes will not lead to the fall of the ayatollahs’ regime.

Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Egypt also asked Trump not to attack Iran, a Gulf country official said. They explained their request by saying that an American strike on Iran could lead to a wider regional conflict.

In parallel, the Arab countries asked the Iranian leadership not to attack the countries of the region if the United States nevertheless strikes at Iran. According to the source, the four above-mentioned states are coordinating their line of messages for both Washington and Tehran. Two diplomats in the region also said that a number of Arab countries have urged the White House administration to prevent the US from attacking Iran.

The Wall Street Journal writes that they are trying to convince Trump that a strike on Iran is unlikely to lead to the fall of the ayatollahs’ regime, but could provoke a wider conflict in the region. According to American officials interviewed by the WSJ, experts made it clear to the president that the United States will need more military power in the Middle East – both to deliver a large-scale strike and to protect American forces in the region and US allies, including, above all, Israel. Experts say smaller strikes could boost protesters’ morale, but they would ultimately do little to change the regime’s hardline crackdown on protests. After hearing these arguments, Donald Trump delayed making a final decision on his actions, but asked that the armed forces be put on alert in case he ordered a massive strike.

White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt emphasized that “Only President Trump knows what he is going to do, and a very small group of advisers is privy to his thinking.”