President Trump’s “massive armada” of warships and fighter planes near Iran mirrors the military buildup of assets in the Caribbean as the president weighs greenlighting strikes against the Islamic Republic.
The military buildup, bolstered with the recent arrival of the USS Abraham Lincoln and its strike group in the U.S. Central Command (Centcom) area, has swelled with additional destroyers approaching Iran, expanding Trump’s attack and defensive options in the region.
The administration dispatched dozens of warships and stationed about 15,000 U.S. service members in the U.S. Southern Command (Southcom) area, which culminated in an early January operation in which Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife were snatched by U.S. Special Forces.
Similarly to Venezuela, the U.S. has at least 10 warships near Iran, and the administration has sent additional fighter jets, air defense systems and drones to the region.
Just like Maduro, Iranian officials are not acquiescing to Trump’s demands. He has called on Iran to halt the enrichment of uranium, place limits on its ballistic missile program and end ties with terror proxy groups.
There are also some crucial differences between the buildups in Venezuela and Iran.
The U.S. has a lot more basing in the Middle East region, with service members deployed in Syria, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan and Israel, among others. Iran’s presence in the region also differs from Venezuela’s presence in the Caribbean. Tehran maintains close ties with Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthi rebels in Yemen and Shiite militia groups in Iraq, according to former Defense officials and analysts.
“I would say the U.S. has certainly more assets in place and that can be used for offensive purposes,” said Seth Jones, a former U.S. special operations and Pentagon official.
But he said those assets also give Iran more targets. Also, Iran has more offensive capabilities than Venezuela — and the “proclivity to use them,” Jones said.
source the Hill
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