Trump Warns Iran as Massive US Fleet Heads to the Gulf

US President Donald Trump has issued a stern warning to Iran, saying the country is under close surveillance and a "massive fleet" is being deployed to the Gulf region. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Thursday, following his return from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump stressed that any aggressive action by Tehran would trigger a severe response. “If you hang those people, you’re going to be hit harder than you’ve ever been hit. It will make what we did to your Iran nuclear look like peanuts,” he said.

Trump added that the US has dispatched a large flotilla toward the region as a precaution, noting, “Maybe we won’t have to use it … we have a lot of ships going that direction, just in case, we have a big flotilla going in that direction, and we’ll see what happens.” Recent media reports indicate that the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, along with its strike group, was redirected from exercises in the South China Sea to West Asia. Ship-tracking data shows the carrier passed through the Strait of Malacca on Tuesday, positioning it days away from the Gulf.

While Trump expressed hope that further military action would be unnecessary, he stressed the US would act if Iran resumed its nuclear program, warning that “if they do it, it’s going to happen again.” The president’s comments come after the US carried out airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June 2025 during a 12-day conflict involving Israel and Tehran.

Iranian officials have responded sharply. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, writing in the Wall Street Journal, emphasized that Iran’s armed forces would respond “with everything we have” if attacked. Araghchi described the warning not as a threat but as a sober reality, noting that a full-scale conflict would be prolonged, highly destructive, and impact the wider region and global population.

In anticipation of possible US strikes, Iran closed its airspace last week. Meanwhile, diplomats from Gulf Arab states and other West and East Asian countries reportedly urged Trump to avoid military escalation.

Iran is simultaneously grappling with domestic unrest. The country has witnessed some of the largest anti-government protests since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Human rights organizations report at least 4,519 fatalities and more than 26,300 arrests during the demonstrations, although the exact figures are still being verified.