Trump warns “massive fleet” is heading towards Iran

Washington DC: US President Donald Trump has said that Iran is under close watch and a "massive fleet" is heading towards the Gulf region.

"I said, if you hang those people, you're going to be hit harder than you've ever been hit. It will make what we did to your Iran nuclear look like peanuts," Trump told mediapersons on board Air Force One on Thursday, Fox News reported.

The US President was on his return from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, to the Joint Base Andrews near Washington DC.


"We have a massive fleet heading in that direction and maybe we won't have to use it, we'll see," Trump told reporters.

"Maybe we won't have to use it ... 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," Trump added.

US media reported in the past week that the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and its strike group of vessels were ordered to divert from manoeuvres in the South China Sea to West Asia, Al Jazeera reported.

Speaking to US broadcaster CNBC on Wednesday, Trump said he hoped there would not be further US military action against Iran but also said the US would act if Tehran resumed its nuclear programme.

"If they do it, it's going to happen again," Trump said.

The US had conducted air strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities in June 2025 when Washington joined Israel's 12-day war on Tehran.

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, writing in the Wall Street Journal newspaper on Tuesday, warned the US that Tehran will be "firing back with everything we have" if attacked.

"Our powerful armed forces have no qualms about firing back with everything we have if we come under renewed attack," the minister wrote.

Araghchi said his warning was not a threat, "but a reality I feel I need to convey explicitly, because as a diplomat and a veteran, I abhor war."

"An all-out confrontation will certainly be ferocious and drag on far, far longer than the fantasy timelines that Israel and its proxies are trying to peddle to the White House," he said.

"It will certainly engulf the wider region and have an impact on ordinary people around the globe," he added.

Against this backdrop, Iran shut its airspace last week, likely in anticipation of a US attack, while diplomats from West Asian and East countries, particularly from Gulf Arab countries, lobbied Trump not to attack.

Ship-tracking data showed the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, which had been in the South China Sea in recent days, on Tuesday passed through the Strait of Malacca, a key waterway connecting the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean.

While US defence officials have not confirmed the carrier strike group's destination, its presence in the Indian Ocean means it is only days away from moving into the West Asian region.

Iran continues to face internal turmoil following violence during some of the biggest anti-government protests since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

According to Al Jazeera, human rights groups are working to confirm the number of people killed during the protests. The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said the death toll had reached at least 4,519, while more than 26,300 people have been arrested.