US Military Build-Up Near Iran Intensifies
BBC Verify has confirmed that a second US aircraft carrier appears to be heading towards the Middle East as Washington continues to exert pressure on Iran regarding its military program and recent deadly crackdown on protesters.
The USS Gerald R Ford, the world's largest warship, briefly transmitted its location off Morocco's Atlantic coast on Wednesday. During the 48 minutes its location data was public, the vessel seemed to be moving towards the Mediterranean Sea.
However, the carrier has not yet been observed crossing the Strait of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean, and an aircraft operating from it was tracked returning to the Atlantic on Thursday.
US and Iranian officials met on Tuesday for a second round of talks, with reported progress between negotiators in Switzerland. President Donald Trump stated on Thursday that the world would learn "over the next, probably, 10 days" whether the US would reach a deal with Iran or resort to military action.
On Monday, BBC Verify identified another aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln, in satellite images taken on Saturday off the coast of Oman, approximately 700 km (430 miles) from Iran.
The arrival of two of the 11 aircraft carriers operated by the US Navy adds to the known military build-up in the Middle East over recent weeks, where BBC Verify has tracked an increase in destroyers, combat ships, and fighter jets.
Both the Gerald R Ford and Abraham Lincoln lead strike groups with several guided missile destroyer warships. They are operated by more than 5,600 crew members and carry dozens of aircraft.
What Military Assets Has the US Moved Into the Middle East?
The USS Gerald R Ford activated its ship-tracking automatic identification system (AIS) for the first time in 2026 at 12:30 GMT on Wednesday. The carrier transmitted its location, visible on the ship-tracking website MarineTraffic, until 13:18, sailing in the direction of the Mediterranean.
However, a transport aircraft attached to the carrier, which landed in Spain on Wednesday, was tracked at about 13:00 on Thursday heading towards the area where the aircraft carrier was spotted.
The appearance of the Gerald R Ford follows BBC Verify's identification of the Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea, around 240 km (150 miles) off the coast of Oman, in publicly available images captured on Saturday by the European Sentinel-2 satellites.
The Abraham Lincoln had not been seen since reportedly entering the region in January but had been crossing open sea areas where satellite coverage is limited. Military assets on land are more visible and frequently captured on satellite.
BBC Verify has now tracked 12 US ships in the Middle East: the Abraham Lincoln, a nuclear-powered Nimitz-class carrier, which together with three Arleigh Burke-class destroyers forms a carrier strike group; plus two destroyers capable of long-range missile strikes and three specialist ships for combat near shore currently positioned at Bahrain naval station in the Gulf. Two other destroyers have been seen in the eastern Mediterranean near the Souda Bay US base, and one more in the Red Sea.
Large numbers of US aircraft movements to both European and Middle Eastern airbases have also been monitored.
How Has Iran Responded?
In response to recent US military movements, Iran has conducted its own show of force.
On Monday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched a maritime drill in the Strait of Hormuz, located in the Gulf between Oman and Iran. The exercise included IRGC Commander‑in‑Chief Maj Gen Mohammad Pakpour inspecting naval vessels at a harbour before missiles were launched from a ship, according to the IRGC-linked Tasnim News Agency.
The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world's most important shipping routes and a vital oil transit choke point. Approximately one-fifth of the world's oil and gas passes through the Strait, including from Kharg Island, Iran's main oil export terminal. Pakpour was seen flying over the island in a helicopter in the report showcasing Iran's latest military manoeuvres.
Footage broadcast by Iranian state TV on Thursday also showed planned naval drills in the Gulf of Oman with Russia, which involved a simulated ship rescue operation.
The Fars news agency, affiliated with Iran's IRGC, reported that "operational units from both Iran's regular army's navy and the IRGC navy" participated.
How Does This Compare to Venezuela and Operation Midnight Hammer?
Military intelligence expert Justin Crump told BBC Verify that the current US military preparations in the Middle East demonstrate "more depth and sustainability" than previous manoeuvres ahead of the seizure of former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro in January or the air strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities last June.
All these operations featured a carrier strike group and several destroyers operating independently. However, the US deployed its assets in Venezuela and Iran last year under quite different circumstances.
The US deployed the Gerald R Ford to the Caribbean ahead of strikes on Venezuela, one of eight warships tracked in the region at the time, though it used fewer aircraft as it could easily send jets from surrounding US mainland bases or from its base in Puerto Rico.
The US also deployed amphibious assault ships within the Caribbean, which can serve as launch platforms for helicopter operations as seen with the capture of Maduro. However, Venezuela's military is generally considered less capable of defending itself or retaliating against the US.
When the US struck Iran last year in Operation Midnight Hammer, targeting Iran's nuclear facilities, it was attacking a country with a much more powerful military than Venezuela. Iran's military is capable of striking US bases across the Middle East.
The recent build-up in the region more closely resembles that seen during Operation Midnight Hammer. The US had two aircraft carrier strike groups in the region, five destroyers placed in the Mediterranean and Red Seas, and three combat ships in the Gulf.
It had also moved squadrons of fighter jets and refuelling aircraft from the US to Europe. However, the B2 stealth bomber flights used to hit the Fordo, Isfahan, and Natanz nuclear sites took off from US bases in Missouri.
Crump, chief executive of risk and intelligence company Sibylline, said the build-up of US warships and aircraft, as well as eight existing airbases in the region, would allow it to conduct a "fairly intensive and sustained strike rate" of about 800 sorties a day, aiming to render any Iranian responses "ineffective."
"What we are seeing isn't just strike preparation, but rather a broader deterrent deployment capable of being scaled up or down," he said. "This means it has more depth and sustainability than the force packages arranged for either Venezuela or Midnight Hammer last year. It's designed to sustain an engagement and counter all potential responses against US assets in the region and, of course, Israel."
Additional reporting by Barbara Metzler, Ghoncheh Habibiazad, Thomas Copeland, Yi Ma
