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Welcome to The Logoff: More US naval forces are arriving in the Middle East as President Donald Trump threatens military action against Iran.
What’s happening? An aircraft carrier strike group arrived in the North Arabian Sea this week, joining five other US destroyers deployed throughout the region, after Trump warned that “time is running out” for the Iranian regime to make a deal.
The new carrier group is “ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary,” Trump wrote in a social media post.
What kind of deal? Trump reportedly has three demands: no enriched uranium, limits on Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal, and no Iranian support for proxy forces in the Middle East, such as Hezbollah. Not included, notably, is any mention of Iran’s protest movement.
What’s the context? The Iranian regime is on shaky footing after mass protests began in late December in response to economic conditions. Earlier this month, Trump told protesters that “HELP IS ON THE WAY.” It wasn’t — and Iranian security forces have reportedly carried out a historic massacre in response to the protests, potentially killing more than 30,000. (Estimates vary; verified death tolls are far lower, but almost certainly an undercount.)
Will strikes actually happen? As my colleague Josh Keating wrote earlier this month, there are plenty of reasons Trump could hold back from striking Iran — first among them, it’s not all that clear what the US could accomplish by doing so. And it’s entirely possible that the naval buildup is designated to intimidate and bring Iran to the table, rather than take action.
But after striking Iranian nuclear facilities last year and successfully capturing Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro this month, there’s reason to believe Trump might be deadly serious.
And with that, it’s time to log off…
Here’s some good news: Polar bears in Svalbard, Norway, are doing better than expected even as sea ice continues to melt. In fact, over the last two decades, they’ve gotten healthier, and their population has either remained stable or increased. You can read my colleague Benji Jones’s reporting here (and see a very cute photo of two polar bear cubs with their mother).
As always, thanks for reading, have a great evening, and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!
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