President Donald Trump has dispatched the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to the Middle East and told a Board of Peace meeting Thursday that he would decide within 10 days whether to order a military strike on Iran. Diplomatic talks are running in parallel. So is a significant regional military buildup.
The message Trump delivered Thursday was clear and direct:
"We may have to take it a step further or we may not. Maybe we're going to make a deal."
That is the administration's posture in one sentence: real military capability, real diplomatic engagement, and a hard deadline forcing a decision. Tehran is being asked to choose.
According to the Military Times, the USS Gerald R. Ford is joining roughly a dozen warships already operating in the U.S. Central Command region, including the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, according to U.S. officials. Retired Vice Adm. Kevin Donegan, a former Navy commander in the Middle East, noted that an aircraft carrier can conduct up to 120 sorties per day and operate close to potential conflict zones. He described the deployment as designed to pressure Tehran into negotiations while making clear that force remains a viable option.
The naval presence is only part of the picture. Open-source flight tracking data shows the Pentagon has been moving additional airpower closer to Iran, including:
Analysts have also suggested submarines may be part of the buildup, though that has not been confirmed. What is confirmed is that the United States has assembled a credible, multi-domain force posture in a region where, not long ago, adversaries doubted American resolve.
U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met with an Iranian delegation in Geneva earlier this week. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said afterward that the sides had agreed on a "set of guiding principles." The White House characterized the talks as having produced "a little bit of progress" while acknowledging that significant differences remain.
That is an honest accounting of where things stand. Progress without resolution. Engagement without agreement. The administration is pursuing both tracks simultaneously, and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt made clear that diplomacy remains the preferred path while the president retains every option if it fails.
This is not ambiguity. It is leverage.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei took to social media to warn that U.S. warships could be sent "to the bottom of the sea." Donegan, drawing on his experience commanding in the region, described that kind of language as expected during high-stakes negotiations and noted that U.S. forces have previously demonstrated effectiveness against Iranian capabilities.
Khamenei's social media threats are not new. They are a feature of how the Iranian government communicates with its domestic audience during pressure campaigns. The threat performs defiance for internal consumption. It does not change the military reality in the water.
What matters is what Tehran does at the negotiating table, not what Khamenei posts online.
There is an honest logistical consideration worth noting. Adm. Daryl Caudle, the chief of naval operations, cautioned against extending the Ford's mission as the carrier approaches its eighth month at sea. His concern centers on maintenance demands and the toll on its 4,000-person crew.
That concern is real and reflects responsible military stewardship. It is also precisely the kind of constraint that informs a 10-day decision timeline. The administration is not operating with an unlimited runway. It is working with the assets it has, under the pressures that exist, toward an outcome that avoids a broader conflict if possible.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said the Pentagon stands ready to execute any order the president issues if diplomacy fails. That statement carries weight precisely because the military posture in the region backs it up.
Trump's self-imposed deadline sharpens everything. It removes the strategic ambiguity that has allowed Iranian nuclear development to continue through years of diplomatic drift. It tells Tehran that the cost of stalling is not more negotiation; it is a decision made without them.
The last time the United States applied this kind of coordinated pressure, including the prior operation Trump referenced Thursday as a benchmark, the region took notice. Whether Iran's leadership is prepared to treat this moment differently than it has treated past ultimatums is the question that the next 10 days will answer.
Two carriers. Roughly a dozen warships. F-22s, F-35s, and electronic warfare assets are moving into position. A president with a deadline. Tehran knows what is in the water.