The U.S. military has rapidly increased its presence near Iran, shifting more than 150 aircraft to bases in Europe and the Middle East since a second round of nuclear talks between the United States and Iran ended without a breakthrough on Feb. 17, according to publicly available flight tracking data and satellite imagery reviewed by The Washington Post.
The current presence of U.S. military forces in the region is among the largest in more than two decades, since before the Iraq war in 2003. The buildup comes after President Trump threatened to attack Iran unless a deal can be reached to restrict Iran’s nuclear program, although he has not indicated the goals of such an attack. Iranian officials have said a deal is possible but that reaching one will take time.
Experts who reviewed the deployment said it has surpassed the military buildup that was seen before the U.S. strikes against the Iranian nuclear program in June of last year. They said the assets being assembled are indicative of a multiday campaign without a ground invasion.
Dozens of additional planes are aboard the warship USS Gerald R. Ford, which was spotted off the coast of the Greek island of Crete on Monday. The Ford is the second aircraft carrier sent to the Middle East, and its arrival means roughly a third of all active U.S. ships are now in the region.
“The massive level of force amassed means the U.S. military can execute on whatever Trump decides — anything from a sustained, highly kinetic campaign to more targeted, limited strikes,” said Dana Stroul, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East who is now a research director with the Washington Institute, a think tank focused on American foreign policy in the Middle East.
If the administration is planning for an extended, weeks-long air campaign, even more military assets will be needed, said Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Defense officials acknowledged the major flow of U.S. forces into the Middle East but declined to comment on the specifics, citing operational security.
More than half of the newly deployed U.S. aircraft landed at bases in Europe, according to satellite imagery and flight-tracking data. By positioning the planes out of range of most Iranian missiles in Eastern Europe, rather than at bases in the Gulf, the U.S. can strategically position materiel or personnel without presenting the Iranians a “juicy target,” said Gregory Brew, a senior Iran analyst at Eurasia Group.
The vast majority of the planes that appear in flight-tracking data are cargo and refueling planes. Combat aircraft often have their location data turned off, so they can be more difficult to track unless they show up in satellite imagery.
Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan has been a key destination for U.S. air assets streaming into the region. More than 60 warplanes were visible in satellite imagery taken Friday. In the imagery, more than a dozen F-35 fighter jets are lined up on a tarmac. These jets are often used to attack an adversary’s air defenses, creating a safer pathway for other jets to follow. The stealthy advanced fighter jet also comes with electronic warfare capabilities, Brew said.
The U.S. has deployed more than a third of its active E-3G Sentry fleet to Europe and the Middle East in recent days, according to flight tracking data and an additional review by Steffan Watkins, an independent researcher who tracks aircraft. Equipped with a large rotating radar dome, the E-3G is an early warning aircraft capable of target detection and all-weather surveillance, providing a real-time picture of activity in the surrounding airspace.
Dozens of warplanes have been photographed in recent days at airstrips in Europe. Photos published online show a dozen F-22A Raptors at Lakenheath air base in the United Kingdom and at least one F-16 Fighting Falcon landing in the Azores.
Video filmed from the window of a passenger plane taxiing at Chania Airport in Crete and published to TikTok on Saturday shows at least 10 additional F-35s among other combat aircraft. Refueling tankers and at least one reconnaissance plane have arrived at the airport since Feb. 17, flight tracking data and satellite imagery show.
Dozens more aircraft, including those used for electronic warfare, sit atop the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, which has been positioned off the Omani coast since early February, and the USS Gerald R. Ford, sailing near Crete, imagery reviewed by The Post showed.
Both aircraft carriers sail with guided missile destroyers that carry dozens of Tomahawks, a type of munition that U.S. forces used to strike Iranian nuclear targets in June.
“Whatever their administration wants to do with Iran, they want to do in a big way, but they want to do fairly quickly with minimal risk of blowback or negative repercussion,” Brew said.
Dan Lamothe contributed to this report.
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