An U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning II aircraft assigned to the 421st Expeditionary Fighter Squadron lands in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility July 25, 2023. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Christopher Sommers
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait have all told the United States that they will not permit their airspaces or territories to be used as a launchpad against Iran, including for refueling and rescue operations, a senior U.S. official told the Middle East Eye (MEE) on April 2.
“They do not want to be drawn in,” the unnamed official told MEE.
The report came after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Iran over the weekend with bombing and secondary tariffs if an agreement on its nuclear program was not reached.
Trump reportedly gave Iran a two-month deadline to sign a new nuclear deal or face potential military action in a letter sent to Tehran last month. The Islamic Republic rejected any direct talks with the U.S. so long as Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign was in place. Still, it said that was willing to hold indirect talks.
In response to the Gulf states’ ban, the U.S. turned to the strategic Diego Garcia Air Base in the Indian Ocean as a staging ground for a possible attack on Iran, according to MEE.
The number of U.S. military cargo flights to the air base surged in recent weeks. At least four B-2 strategic stealth bombers were also spotted there.
A separate report released by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on April 2 shed more light on the U.S. military buildup in the Middle East.
According to WSJ, the U.S. recently deployed two Patriot air defense systems and one Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, THAAD, anti-missile system from the Indo-Pacific to the Middle East. The report also revealed that additional F-35 stealth fighter jets, and MQ-9 combat drones were sent to the region.
Also on April 2, the Pentagon announced that the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman will be joined in the Middle East by the Carl Vinson “to continue promoting regional stability, deter aggression, and protect the free flow of commerce in the region.”
While significantly increasing U.S. forces in the Middle East in case President Donald Trump chooses to attack Iran, the White House was seriously considering Iran’s proposal for indirect nuclear talks, according to the Axios news website. U.S. officials speaking to the outlet on April 2 said that no decision has yet been made.
Iran denies seeking a nuclear weapon. However , it has ramped up its enrichment of uranium up to 60 percent purity. It is the only country in the world without a nuclear weapons program to do so.
All in all, Iran appears to be facing unprecedented pressure from the U.S. Still, a confrontation between the two remains highly unlikely.
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it doesn’t help these arab states because in the case of bombing iran infrastructure the best card that iran has is the closing of the strate of hormoz which will directly effect these arab states and the world economy!
is it possible this could happen before the summer.☀️ that fucker trump going to fuck everything up.
in his first term, trump was the first us president who didn’t start any wars. now it seems like the clock has completely turned.
didn’t start any wars, the wars were already taking place trump like every american president before him just continued on where their predecessor left off.
maybe, one problem is that many in iranians elites are compromised with west – their children go to study and later many of them decide to stay in west, they all have bought villas and homes in west and their wealths is parked in banks in west – iran before 1979 revolution was run by a comperador class and that basically didn’t change in iran!
you mean that iranian elites kids are up to the same things overseas that russian joos’ kids are up to ? ? . . . . well i’ll be damned ! 😮
yes of course, exactly!
usa dont need that bases, they can attack from diego garcia and from the sea, while israel ( would not attack iran) to avoid another rain of missile in nevatim but this time in tel aviv city.
even in that case us has to use radar information that comes within these bases and it doesn’t matter if israel doesn’t participate directly in attacking iran because it’s an open secret that trump/us is doing jewish state’s bidding and how in the earth can iran play nice and clean if it’s infrastructure is destroyed!
and already have the co ordinates of every bit of energy infrastructure these uae satrapies have, locked into a large number of their missiles. can bet on it.
yes, us strategy is that once and for ever solve the problem with iran in me and hormoz strate and concentrate on china!
cause the moslems sided with the nasis. it’s tradition the moslens go with the catholics that’s why pope francis wants chrislam .and he’s the king of kings.
the pope is a heretic.
and a gay joo
it seems very likely that the us will strike again. at least this will affect israel. israel doesn’t have to fear as much as it spreads its tentacles. iran probably won’t strike israel under us pressure. iran would really need nuclear weapons, only they have saved north korea.
the gulf states region has at least 10 existing us bases with up to 50k soldiers , according to iran they are easy targets . the peace president trump has lied . new boss is the same as the old boss . israel .
the uae has built an airstrip on a yemeni island that they control for precisely this purpose, that is how they can claim that the airstrikes are not coming from their territory.
bullshit statement of the golf states, cause there are thousands of us troops already there, and in case they sure will not ask them for permission. when us start a strikte, what will the golf states do? nothing, cause they will never dare to shoot at us planes or to block us bases. without nuke armament iran will always be under us and zionist pressure and threat. so what are the mullah morons still waiting for since over 40 years? north corea should be theyr example.
🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖🤖bot
ha. these jewish owned states will do exactly as their masters dictate. hopefully iran isn’t fooled by this false statement.