Here’s what military equipment the US has positioned in the Middle East as Trump considers an Iran strike
By Haley Britzky, Avery Schmitz, Brad Lendon, CNN
(CNN) — As President Donald Trump considers a major strike on Iran after discussions about limiting that nation’s nuclear program and ballistic missile production haven’t progressed, the US military has accelerated a weekslong buildup of military hardware in the Middle East, open-source data shows.
That includes near-constant surveillance flights and dozens of C-17 and C-5 military planes dropping off loads of cargo at US bases across the region.
The arrival of the Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, now in the northern Arabian Sea, represents the most substantial shift in military positioning. The group includes the USS Abraham Lincoln along with three guided-missile destroyers and the carrier air wing which includes squadrons of F/A-18E Super Hornet fighters, F-35C Lightning II fighters, and EA-18G Growler electronic warfare jets.
The Navy also has three destroyers — the USS Delbert D. Black, USS McFaul, and USS Mitscher — in the region separate from the carrier strike group.
Three littoral combat ships — USS Santa Barbara, USS Canberra and USS Tulsa — based out of Bahrain could be called upon for minesweeping duties if Iran choses to deploy such armaments.
In recent days the US has deployed various air defense systems to the region as well, including additional Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) systems, and Patriot missile systems that appeared at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar last week, seen in a satellite image captured by Planet Labs on January 25. Those systems would be key to combatting retaliatory missile strikes should Iran respond to a strike by taking aim at either US military assets or US allies in the region.
The equipment has accumulated as Trump has repeatedly threatened military action, saying on Wednesday that if Iran doesn’t agree to a deal, “the next attack will be far worse” than last June’s attack on its nuclear facilities.
“Like with Venezuela, it is, ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary,” Trump said of the Lincoln.
The guided-missile destroyers steaming with the Lincoln and elsewhere in the region offer significant strike potential. Each can carry dozens of Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles with a range of 1,000 miles and wielding a 1,000-pound conventional warhead.
Additionally, US Navy carrier strike groups usually operate with an attack submarine that can also launch Tomahawks, but the presence of subs is almost never disclosed.
While the carrier provides a floating base for military operations, the US has a number of permanent locations in the region where a slew of other aircraft have also been heading.
An E-11A jet arrived Thursday at al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, one of the last critical assets necessary for the US to coordinate complex operations. The converted business jet acts as a high-altitude communications relay system, transmitting data to support any airborne or ground forces.
The same day, a modified cargo plane designed for combat search-and-rescue operations arrived in the theater. A squadron of F-15E Strike Eagle fighters, which can carry an array of guided bombs and air-to-surface missiles, also recently deployed to the region as part of a planned rotation of forces.
Surveillance flights by US drones and reconnaissance aircraft have been ongoing, patrolling the Strait of Hormuz and Persian Gulf. Since Monday, the flights have been operating at a near-constant pace, originating from US bases in Qatar, Bahrain and even outside the Middle East.
Variants of the RC-135 reconnaissance plane have also arrived in the region, capable of detecting radioactive debris and interpreting electromagnetic signals.
On Thursday, at least eight tankers used for refueling smaller military jets in midair crossed the Atlantic, landing at Morón Air Base in southern Spain. During their flights, several of the tankers broadcasted messages suggesting that they were supporting at least seven additional smaller planes on the transatlantic flight, possibly equipped for electronic warfare or fighter missions.
An F-35 operations center was specifically referenced in messages transmitted Thursday night to two of the tankers and recorded on the flight tracking dashboard tbg.airframes.io, indicating that the fifth-generation fighters were crossing the Atlantic. Both tankers referenced in the messages flew from Homestead Air Base in Florida, near where the US had deployed F-35s to Puerto Rico as part of Operation Southern Spear, the Trump administration’s campaign to target alleged drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.
Less than two hours after the messages were sent, six F-35s landed at Lajes Air Base in Portugal, according to plane spotter Andre Inacio, who photographed them. CNN independently confirmed the geolocation of the images.
And this week, as tensions mounted amid Trump’s threats, the Air Force conducted a multiday exercise in the region meant to demonstrate its ability “to deploy, disperse, and sustain combat power” across the Middle East, US Central Command said on Tuesday.
It’s unclear what other assets from around the world could be used in any potential operation, given the extensive network of US military air tankers. In June 2025, seven B-2 Spirit stealth bombers flew a 37-hour mission from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri to Iran, dropping over a dozen bombs on three of Iran’s key nuclear facilities.
Also used in last June’s attack on the Iranian nuclear sites was a guided-missile submarine. The US Navy has four of the Ohio-class guided-missile subs — converted ballistic-missile submarines whose locations are kept secret — that can carry up to 154 Tomahawks.
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