On February 12-13, 2026, Trump ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford—the world's largest aircraft carrier—to the Middle East to join the USS Abraham Lincoln already stationed there, creating an extraordinary show of naval force against Iran. When asked about regime change in Iran, Trump said it “would be the best thing that could happen,” adding that he wanted to settle Iran “once and for all.”
Trump warned Iran that the additional firepower would be used if Tehran doesn't agree to a new nuclear deal. “In case we don't make a deal, we'll need it,” he said of the second carrier. He also stated, “For 47 years, they've been talking and talking and talking. In the meantime, we've lost a lot of lives while they talk.”
This comes as US-Iran negotiations resumed in Oman, but Trump's public saber-rattling and open embrace of regime change undermine the very diplomacy he claims to want. Publicly calling for the overthrow of a government while simultaneously trying to negotiate with them is not a strategy—it's provocation.
Two aircraft carrier strike groups represent an enormous military commitment and cost to taxpayers. The last time the US pursued regime change in the Middle East—Iraq in 2003—it led to a 20-year war, thousands of American deaths, trillions in spending, and regional destabilization that continues today. Americans should be deeply concerned when a president casually suggests doing it again.