Asked if he wants regime change in Iran, U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on Friday (February 13, 2026) that it “would be the best thing that could happen”. Mr. Trump, who last month threatened to strike Iran if Iran killed protesters, confirmed that a second aircraft carrier is “going out shortly” to West Asia. “For 47 years, they’ve been talking and talking and talking,” Mr. Trump said. “In the meantime, we’ve lost a lot of lives while they talk. Legs blown off, arms blown off, faces blown off. We’ve been going on for a long time. So, let’s see what happens.”
The U.S. has already deployed USS Abraham Lincoln to the Arabian Sea, some 500 km off Iran’s Persian Gulf coast. On Friday (February 13, 2026), officials told U.S. media that the second carrier going to the region would be USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier. Ford is currently in the Caribbean where it was deployed before Mr. Trump’s January 3 attack on Venezuela and the abduction of its President, Nicolas Maduro. The last time West Asian waters had two aircraft carriers was in June 2025 when the U.S. joined Israel to bomb Iran during the 12-day war.
