Da Nang, a port city in Vietnam, had been bracing to receive the behemoth USS Nimitz aircraft carrier this week when the ship announced that it was changing course.
The 1092ft vessel had been conducting 'routine' security operations in the Indo-Pacific when it was called away from its duties and started heading west, towards the burgeoning firefight between Israel and Iran.
A White House spokesperson assured that U.S. forces in the Middle East remained in a 'defensive posture', despite the flurry of activity. But President Donald Trump has been more bellicose, warning Tehran that if the U.S. is attacked in any way, 'the full strength and might of the US Armed Forces will come down on you at levels never seen before'.
Iran has threatened to drag the United States into the conflict by attacking their bases in the region should Washington intervene on Israel's behalf. Britain and France, with smaller strongholds in the Middle East, were also name-checked in the warning.
It could be a brazen bluff from what remains of Tehran's military leadership, anticipating that another war in the Middle East would sit poorly with American voters. But it is not without precedent. Iran struck a key foothold in Iraq with ballistic missiles in 2020, and proxy groups are already believed to have sent drones to antagonise the airbase since Israel launched its surprise attack on Iran on Friday.
