In one well-noticed strategy, six B-2 bombers have been moved to the tiny island of Diego Garcia, located in the Indian Ocean. The island, home to a joint U.S-British air base, is about 2,400 miles from Iran.
The military build-up all around the Middle East isn't just for show, warns Jerry Boykin, a retired three-star U.S. Army general.
The U.S. has moved aircraft carriers, air defense systems and other assets into the region in advance of this weekend’s expected talks with Iran about its nuclear program and intentions.
The talks are believed to be set for Oman.
Earlier this week, President Trump would not confirm the location but the Iranians would agree only to indirect talks with the U.S. mediated by Oman, Axios reported.
Trump and Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei have also lobbed verbal threats at one another in advanced of the meeting.
“If the talks aren’t successful with Iran, I think Iran is going to be in great danger,” Trump said Monday following his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Khamenei fired back and said that while he doesn't believe the U.S. would attack Iran "they will certainly receive a heavy blow in return" if they do so.
Trump in early March sent a letter to Khamenei seeking to jumpstart talks. News of the letter came to light during a Fox Business Network interview and quickly made the rounds in the U.S.
Iran, however, gave no official response until three weeks later when its president, Masoud Pezeshkian, said in televised cabinet meeting remarks that his country would not have direct negotiations with the U.S. but left the door open for mediated conversations.
“We don’t avoid talks; it’s the breach of promises that has caused issues for us so far,” Pezeshkian said. “They must prove that they can build trust.”
Trump’s history with Iran
In 2018 Trump, then in his first term, withdrew America from a Barack Obama-negotiated Iranian nuclear deal.
The U.S. is currently involved in attacks against the Iran-backed Houthis in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen.
The build-up “tells us that President Trump is serious about this," Boykin said on Washington Watch Tuesday.
"This is not just a show of force," Boykin advised. "I don’t think he wants this to turn into a shooting war, but I think he’s ready to do that, and I think he and Mr. Netanyahu probably talked about that and are going to talk about it some more."
Iran currently has almost 400 pounds of weapons-grade enriched uranium, enough to build seven nuclear warheads, Boykin said.
“That’s dangerous,” he warned.
The U.S. would like to see a team of inspectors oversee a voluntary dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program.
“I don’t think that’s possible with the Iranians. I think the Iranians could potentially come up with something else that they think would appease Donald Trump, but I think he’s too astute, and he’s got Netanyahu working on his side, and he’s on Netanyahu’s side. I think that (voluntary dismantlement) would be very difficult,” Boykin told show host Tony Perkins.
In some ways anchoring war ships in the region carries risks, but “and the other thing they’re moving in there is air defense systems. They’re getting the most modern air-defense systems, along with some of the older ones, but they’re putting those in there too, so if anybody was to try and hit some of our stuff there at Diego Garcia or Djibouti or any of those places where they’re taking this stuff, they’ve got the air defenses to stop that,” Boykin said.
Aircraft carriers in the region are a strong signal to the stakes involved for this weekend.
“When they move a carrier task force, it’s not just one ship, it’s a task force of many ships, it is massive, so that’s serious,” Boykin said.
Trump campaigned on stopping wars, not getting the U.S. into new conflicts, Boykin noted, “but at the same time he has a responsibility to protect our country as well as our allies.”
Not Boykin’s first Iranian rodeo
Boykin has a deep history with Iran. He was part of Operation Eagle Claw in 1980, the failed attempt to rescue 53 American hostages held at The American Embassy by Iran under former President Jimmy Carter.
The operation was aborted after encountering several obstacles including mechanical failures and a sandstorm. Eight American servicemen died when a helicopter collided with a transport aircraft.
Having visited in the office of one Middle East leader he was told, “‘You need to understand that Iran has a blood lust,’ meaning they want to kill. Can we negotiate with them? Not in good faith.”
Boykin has been critical of Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran.
“Supposedly when Barack Obama closed the deal on that JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action), they had negotiated in good faith until the inspectors went and found out there were certain facilities that they couldn’t go into which was not part of the JCPOA agreement,” he recalled.
