Trump says US 'armada' heading toward Iran as tensions rise

JOINT BASE ANDREWS, MARYLAND: President Donald Trump announced that the US has deployed a large naval fleet toward Iran, though he suggested it might not need to take action. 

He made the comments while returning from the World Economic Forum in Switzerland, amid warnings from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, who said Thursday that they had their “finger on the trigger” following mass protests.

Trump reveals 'massive' military buildup near Iran amid rising tensions

While speaking aboard Air Force One on his way back to the United States after meeting world leaders in Davos, Switzerland, Trump said, “We have a lot of ships going that direction just in case. We have a big flotilla going in that direction. And we’ll see what happens.”

He added, “We have a big force going toward Iran. I'd rather not see anything happen, but we’re watching them very closely. We have an armada. We have a massive - massively heading in that direction. And maybe we won’t have to use it. We will see.”

He continued, “I stopped 837 hangings on Thursday. They would have been dead. Everyone would have been hung. This is like from 1,000 years ago.”

Trump described his warning to Iranian authorities: “I said, ‘If you hang those people, you’re going to be hit harder than you’ve ever been hit. It’ll make what we did to you around nuclear look like peanuts.’"

He added, "And an hour before this horrible thing was going to take place, they canceled it, and they actually said they canceled it. They didn’t postpone it. They canceled it. So that was a good sign."

Trump warns against Iran’s threat

On Tuesday, January 20, the USS Abraham Lincoln, which had recently been in the South China Sea, was spotted heading toward the Middle East, along with three destroyers, a US Navy official reported.

Another aircraft carrier, the USS George HW Bush, is sailing from Virginia to Europe, conducting live-fire exercises and other training, according to the ship’s official Facebook page.

On January 2, Trump warned that if Iran violently harms peaceful protesters, “the United States of America will come to their rescue. We are locked and loaded and ready to go.”

Despite that warning, he held off on a large military strike last week after allies in the Middle East urged caution. Trump also said aboard Air Force One that a 25% tariff on countries doing business with Iran, including China and the UAE, would start “very soon.”

Over the weekend, he called for new leadership in Iran, accusing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of destroying the country and using unprecedented levels of violence. 

Trump responded to Iran’s assassination threats in an interview on NewsNation, warning, "Well, they shouldn't be doing it, but I've left notification that anything ever happens. We are going to blow the whole country is going to get blown up. So, we've you know, originally Biden should have said something, you know, when they made a statement."

He added, "Like if I were here, and they are making that to somebody, not even a president, but somebody, as they did with me. I would absolutely hit them so hard. But I have very firm instructions. Anything happens, they are going to wipe them off the face of this Earth."