US president says ‘big force going towards Iran’, but he would ‘rather not see anything happen’ as tension with Tehran ratchets up.
Published On 23 Jan 2026
United States President Donald Trump said a US naval “armada” was heading towards the Gulf region, with Iran being the focus, as officials said an aircraft carrier strike group and other assets would arrive in the Middle East in the coming days.
“We’re watching Iran,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Thursday as he flew back from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
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“We have a big force going towards Iran,” Trump said.
“I’d rather not see anything happen, but we’re watching them very closely,” he said.
“And 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,” he added.
Trump’s announcement on the US naval buildup comes after he appeared to back-pedal last week on his threats of military action against Iran after, he said, receiving assurances that no executions of protesters would be carried out by Tehran.
Trump’s confirmation of continuing military preparations in the region follows after US media reports 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 the Middle East.
Speaking on Thursday, Trump reiterated that his earlier threats to use force against Tehran had stopped authorities in Iran from executing more than 800 protesters, and he again said he was open to talking with the country’s leadership.
Iranian officials have denied plans to execute people who had taken part in the widespread antigovernment protests that began in late December and which Iranian state media said left 3,117 people dead, including 2,427 civilians and members of the security forces.
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.
“They can’t do the nuclear,” Trump told CNBC in an interview in Davos.
“If they do it, it’s going to happen again,” the president said, referring to US air strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities in June 2025 when Washington joined Israel’s 12-day war on the country.
Washington last ordered a major military build-up in the Middle East in advance of its attacks in June, and officials later boasted about how it had kept its intention to strike Tehran’s nuclear programme a secret at the time.
Writing in the Wall Street Journal newspaper on Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi 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.