Where the US is building up military force near Iran
The United States has also sent at least a dozen F-15E attack planes to the region to bolster the number of land-based strike aircraft, according to U.S. officials.
This handout image from the U.S. Navy shows Capt. Daniel Keeler, the commanding officer of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, flying an MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter in the Indian Ocean on Jan. 23, 2026. (Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Daniel Kimmelman/U.S. Navy via AP)
By Christoph Koettl, Eric Schmitt, Ashley Cai and Daniel Wood
In recent days, the U.S. military has built up forces close to Iran, in what President Donald Trump has referred to as an “armada.”
That armada appears to be the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, which is accompanied by three warships equipped with Tomahawk missiles.
The vessels entered the Central Command’s area of responsibility in the western Indian Ocean on Monday and are now on station in the Arabian Sea, Navy officials said Thursday. Flight tracking data corroborates the aircraft carrier’s location: One of its supply aircraft repeatedly flew from the Arabian Sea to nearby Oman this week.
The carrier’s stealthy F-35 fighters and F/A-18 attack planes are well within striking distance of dozens of targets in Iran, if Trump were to order them into action.
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This handout image from the U.S. Navy shows an EA-18G Growler launching from the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in the Indian Ocean on Jan. 23, 2026. (Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Daniel Kimmelman/U.S. Navy via AP)
The United States has also sent at least a dozen F-15E attack planes to the region to bolster the number of land-based strike aircraft, according to U.S. officials. Satellite images show the jets are in the same spot at an air base in Jordan as they were in June 2025 during “Operation Midnight Hammer.”
Flight tracking data suggests that the United States is also moving additional aircraft, including more advanced fighter jets and refueling planes, closer to or into the region. And the Pentagon has dispatched more Patriot and THAAD air defenses to the region to help protect troops there from retaliatory strikes by Iranian short- and medium-range missiles. There are about 30,000 to 40,000 U.S. troops in the region.
Trump has not yet authorized military action or chosen among the options presented by the Pentagon, and remains open to pursuing a diplomatic solution, officials said.
Long-range bombers based in the United States that could strike targets in Iran are on a higher-than-usual alert status. The Pentagon heightened the alert status nearly three weeks ago, when Trump requested options to respond to a government crackdown on protests in the country
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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This handout image from the U.S. Navy shows Capt. Daniel Keeler, the commanding officer of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, flying an MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter in the Indian Ocean on Jan. 23, 2026. (Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Daniel Kimmelman/U.S. Navy via AP) 
