A “strong” American military deployment in the Gulf before possible Iranian strikes

A diplomatic agreement between the United States and Iran could still avoid a military confrontation.

But one of Washington’s largest military buildup operations in the Persian Gulf is quickly taking shape.

Experts say the publication aims to give US President Donald Trump military options if he chooses to act on his threats to attack Tehran for failing to conclude a nuclear agreement and suppress protesters.

Iranian security forces killed thousands of demonstrators in January, after protests erupted in late December 2025 against the backdrop of the sharp collapse of the Iranian currency.

“The gathering of forces is a point of pressure that the United States is exerting on Iran to reach a negotiated agreement,” said Amin Tarazi, professor of strategic studies at the Marine Corps War College.

He said that after the reinforcement, the US military position in the Gulf has become “strong” with “naval and defensive air defense capabilities, in addition to offensive air components.”

He said that in terms of numbers, the US military buildup may not be the largest in the region where Washington has fought some of its recent foreign wars.

Hundreds of thousands of American troops participated in two major US-led operations against Iraq: the 1991 Gulf War, which liberated Kuwait from Iraqi occupation, and the 2003 invasion of Iraq, which toppled Saddam Hussein’s regime.

“The nature of the war has changed dramatically, even compared to 2003,” Tarazi said. “These are assets that have more capacity but a much smaller footprint.

“huge fleet”

In late January, President Trump repeated his call for Tehran to face an attack “far worse” than the one that targeted the country in June if it failed to reach an agreement on its nuclear program.

He said that a “huge fleet” was heading to Iran and was able to “accomplish its mission quickly, quickly and violently.”

The fleet is led by the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, supported by several advanced warships that together form an aircraft carrier strike group. Last week, one of the strike group’s aircraft shot down an Iranian drone.

Multimission ships such as the USS Delbert D. Black, the USS Mitscher and the USS McFall are already in the Persian Gulf theater, said David DeRoches, a professor at the Thayer Marshall Institute in Washington. All of these can launch missile strikes and have advanced sea and air defense capabilities.

On February 10, Trump said he might do so Send a second aircraft carrier The strike group in the region to participate in military action if talks with Iran fail.

Des Roches said that the American forces currently present around Iran are more active. “(The crowd) is much smaller, and it’s much easier to scale up and down,” he said.

He said advances in US military capability mean it is also possible that Washington could once again use B2 strategic bombers just as it was used in June 2025 to strike deep into Iran.

“These could come from the United States or from Diego Garcia,” he said. On the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, the United States and the United Kingdom share a joint military base.

Central command

The Gulf region is part of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) area of ​​operations, where the oil-rich Sunni Arab monarchies of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar host U.S. military, air force, and naval bases. It is now estimated that the area contains up to 40,000 American soldiers.

Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar houses the forward headquarters of US Central Command. In June 2025, Iran attempted to target it in response to US air strikes on its nuclear facilities. The US Navy’s 5th Fleet is based in Bahrain, where it secures some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea.

Additional American bases and ships are spread in Jordan, the Red Sea, and the Mediterranean. In Iraq and Syria, the US military presence was mostly aimed at counter-terrorism operations against the extremist group Islamic State.

“The dramatic increase in naval presence, in air presence, in air defenses indicates that the United States is very serious,” said Brian Carter, research director of the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.

He said that Washington is using air defense platforms to help defend its American bases and allies from any Iranian attacks.

“The Navy fits into this picture as well, because naval ships can be armed with air-to-air or surface-to-air interceptor missiles to shoot down incoming missiles,” he added.

Across the Middle East, Washington has strengthened its air and missile defenses.

In recent weeks, additional batteries of High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) and Patriot missile defense systems have been deployed in the Gulf Arab states and Jordan. The Patriots are effective against low-flying and short-range projectiles. The THAAD system is designed to intercept ballistic missiles at high altitudes.

Carter says that in contrast to Iran’s weak defense capabilities, America’s defense capability is very strong due to investments over the past decade.

“This is kind of an important asymmetry that we have to take into account as we think about strikes going forward,” he said.