Trump's Venezuela buildup delays US aircraft carrier, raising stakes of Iran strike
The presence in the Middle East of a full carrier strike group would significantly bolster the military’s ability to disrupt potential barrages of retaliatory Iranian ballistic missiles and drones.
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration appears to be in a holding pattern amid private pushback from Israel and Arab states over President Donald Trump's threats to target the Iranian government for its violent repression of mass nationwide protests.
Yet the White House has not ruled out military strikes against Iran, Washington's UN ambassador Mike Waltz told the Security Council on Thursday. Meanwhile, US military assets elsewhere in the world are being freed up for potential tasking to the Middle East. "We're going to see," Trump told reporters on Friday when asked whether the US would still intervene.
Trump's threats have spooked some of Washington's key Arab allies – Egypt, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia — over fears of a potential spillover conflict beyond Iran’s borders. Iranian officials have threatened to target neighboring countries in retaliation for US strikes.
Those concerns have factored into the White House’s deliberations this week about options to strike the Islamic Republic, two well-placed sources familiar with the matter told Al-Monitor.
