The Iran Buildup

By the time you read this, the bombs could already be in the air.

President Trump said on Wednesday he was “fed up” with Iran’s negotiating tactics, and on Thursday he gave them a deadline: make a deal to end their nuclear program and ballistic missile programs within ten to fifteen days, or “it’s going to be a bad day for Iran.”

The last time Trump gave a deadline — “maybe a month” — was last June. The B-2 bombers took off to bomb Iran’s deeply-buried enrichment site at Fordo two days later.

I certainly have no clue when or if the president will give the order to strike Iran. But the USS Gerald Ford and its carrier strike group passed through the Strait of Gilbralter on Tuesday, and is expected to reach off-shore Israel by Sunday.

Together with the USS Abraham Lincoln, which has been patrolling in the Arabian Sea for the past few weeks, they bring a formidable assault force of some 180 combat aircraft and ten guided missile destroyers to face Iran.

Early Thursday morning, a squadron of F-22s, our most advanced air-to-air combat jet, touched down at Lakenheath Air Force Base in Great Britain, en route to airfields in the Middle East. They performed the same drill last June — just four days before we struck Fordo.

US military cargo jets have carried out over 150 rotations bringing missiles, radar systems, and other gear to forward deploy at US and allied bases across the Middle East. We have guided missile destroyers in the Red Sea, the Mediterranean, the Gulf of Oman, and in Bahrain, the headquarters of the US 5th fleet. And we have brought B-52s to the al-Udeid air base in Qatar.

And don’t forget, the nuclear attack submarines that accompany our carriers have all been retrofitted with underwater Special Forces delivery vehicles, in the event they get tasked with attacking Iran’s offshore oil platforms, as we did during Operation Praying Mantis in 1988, or other unsuspecting targets (like IRGC leaders).

The one thing missing from the massive buildup of offensive U.S. firepower is ground troops. The President has made clear he has no intention of waging a neo-con ground war.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Dan Caine, has shown he has the skill and imagination to devise operations that will surely throw the Iranians off balance. Whatever they think is going to happen, probably won’t.

The Russians began a joint naval exercise in the Strait of Hormuz with the Iranian navy on Thursday, but uncharacteristically played down their presence and basically told the Iranians to cool their jets.

The IRGC Navy commander, Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri, defiantly touched down on the helipad of an amphibious ship in the Gulf spouting dire threats to any eventual American invaders. When I saw the video I burst out laughing: he was flying in a Vietnam era Bell 212 helicopter, all analog gauges and toggle switches. We should be VERY afraid.

WATCH: Iran’s Sayyad-3-G missile fired from the Shahid Sayyad Shirazi combat vessel

As so frequently occurs, President Trump has shown he can chew gum and skip rope at the same time, so while the military buildup was taking place he was welcoming world leaders to the newly-renamed Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, to inaugurate the Board of Peace.

The Euros failed to show up, or to join the Board, for fear it would supplant the United States, which could very well happen. Over the past fifty years, the UN has shown itself to be as feckless as the European Union, so there is no real surprise there.

I couldn’t help thinking of previous presidents as I watched Donald Trump’s performance art. He called on more than two dozen world leaders by name, and then recounted a recent anecdote of their interaction, many of them involving Trump resolving a long-standing conflict between them.

He even got the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to stand up and lean across the aisle to shake hands. Those two had only been fighting for thirty years.

Can you imagine Barack Obama or Joe Biden conducting diplomacy with such obvious command? Trump was inviting them all to join the new world order according to Trump: a world where nations join together for common actions where their national self-interests coincide.

I discuss all of this, as well as the threats from British Prime Minister Kair Starmer to ban the U.S. from using the joint UK-US air base on Diego Garcia for military operations against Iran, on this week’s Prophecy Today Weekend.

As always, you can listen live at 1 PM on Saturday on 104.9 FM or 550 AM, or by using the Jacksonville Way Radio app.

Yours in freedom.

©2026 Kenneth R. Timmerman. All rights reserved.

RELATED ARTICLES:

Ten Days That Could Shake the World

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer Blocks US From Using RAF Bases for Strikes on Iran

Website: kentimmerman.com

Ken Timmerman’s 14th book of non-fiction, THE IRAN HOUSE: Tales of Revolution, Persecution, War, and Intrigue, can be ordered by clicking here or by viewing my author’s page, here. 

Raising Olives in Provence, can be ordered by clicking here.