Trump’s Middle East buildup and Iran talks: How close is war?

By RT newsroom, a team of multi-lingual journalists with over a decade of experience in Russian and international reporting, delivering original research and insights often missing from mainstream coverage

US President Donald Trump has sent an unprecedented air and naval force to the Persian Gulf in a bid to cow Iran into submission. But Tehran isn’t blinking, and Trump may be backing himself into a situation where war with Iran may be unavoidable.

As American and Iranian representatives met in Geneva on Tuesday, a steady stream of US refueling aircraft, electronic warfare planes, and fighter jets crossed the Atlantic, stopping at bases in the UK and Germany en route to the Middle East. The nuclear-powered USS Abraham Lincoln has already been deployed in the Persian Gulf since January, where it will soon be joined by the USS Gerald R. Ford, which is currently sailing across the Atlantic for the Strait of Gibraltar.

The buildup is at the core of Trump’s strategy for Iran: press the Islamic Republic into maximum concessions with the threat of a “far worse” attack than the bombing raid he ordered on Iranian nuclear sites last summer. The US is seeking a complete halt to Iran’s uranium enrichment and the dismantlement of its ballistic missile program, while Iran has said that it is willing to lower its enrichment, but will not give up its missiles.

If a deal can’t be reached, all the components are in place for a major war.