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The U.S. has deployed dozens of military aircraft and other assets to bases in and near the Middle East, with President Donald Trump suggesting Thursday strikes against Iran could begin “within 10 days” if a deal is not reached about its nuclear program.
The two countries are in the midst of indirect talks in Switzerland.
Speaking at the first meeting of his Board of Peace organization, Trump said the U.S. “may have to take it a step further” if talks fall apart. The CBC’s visual investigations team analyzed flight and maritime data, as well as satellite imagery, to track the buildup.
What’s at sea
Two of the U.S. navy’s 11 active carrier groups are known or reported to have been ordered to the region. The USS Abraham Lincoln and its escort destroyers are operating in the Arabian Sea near Oman, following their deployment in late January.
Publicly available footage captured by the European Space Agency’s Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite shows the carrier in the region on Sunday.
A number of other warships are active in the Strait of Hormuz, Red Sea and eastern Mediterranean, according to the U.S.-based outlet USNI News.
The carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, the largest warship in the world, also briefly activated its Automatic Identification System (AIS) yesterday, showing its location off the coast of Morocco in the Atlantic Ocean, according to MarineTraffic.
U.S. media has reported that the Gerald R. Ford has been ordered into the region, though as of Thursday it does not appear to have entered the Mediterranean. The USNS William McLean, a navy replenishment ship, activated its own AIS on Thursday, close to the Gerald R. Ford’s previous location.
What’s in the air
Using the flight-tracking software ADS-B Exchange, CBC News observed dozens of U.S. military flights over the past several days, showing a large number of tanker, transport and surveillance assets moving from the continental United States to bases in Europe and the Middle East.
According to the flight data, there is frequent traffic both to and from Ramstein Air Base in Germany, while planes have also landed in Crete, Greece and in Rota, Spain.
U.S. aircraft have also been spotted in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Also on Thursday, a P-8 maritime surveillance plane was active in the Strait of Hormuz, near Iran, according to ADS-B Exchange flight-tracking data.
Satellite footage published by Reuters has also showed a marked increase in the number of combat and other military aircraft visible on bases in the region.
Dozens of planes are visible at the Al Udeid air base in Qatar, a major U.S. installation in the region. Similarly, the Muwaffaq Salti air base in Jordan has seen an increase in the number of aircraft stationed there, according to the satellite images.
What else we know
The U.S. struck Iran last year as part of what is known as the Twelve-Day War, which was launched by Israel in June. The U.S. used B-2 bombers to hit Iranian nuclear facilities.
Satellite imagery released by Reuters shows that repair and reconstruction efforts have since taken place at a number of nuclear and military sites, including the Natanz and Isfahan complexes.
Iran’s leadership, meanwhile, has said the nuclear talks in Geneva, Switzerland have yielded “good progress.” Iran denies it is looking to build a nuclear weapon.
The country has also launched its own military exercises, including missile tests and a naval mission in the Strait of Hormuz that also included Russian forces.
