U.S. President Donald Trump has said that a change in power in Iran “would be the best thing that could happen” as the U.S. administration weighs whether to take military action against Tehran.

Mr. Trump made the comments shortly after visiting with troops in Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, and after he confirmed earlier in the day that he’s deploying a second aircraft carrier group to the Mideast for potential military action against Iran.

“It seems like that would be the best thing that could happen,” Mr. Trump said in an exchange with reporters when asked about pressing for the ouster of the Islamic clerical rule in Iran. “For 47 years, they’ve been talking and talking and talking.”

Mr. Trump said earlier that the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, is being sent from the Caribbean Sea to the Mideast to join other warships and military assets the U.S. has built up in the region. The planned deployment comes just days after Trump suggested another round of talks with the Iranians was at hand. Those negotiations didn’t materialise, as one of Tehran’s top security officials visited Oman and Qatar this week and exchanged messages with U.S. intermediaries.

“In case we don’t make a deal, we’ll need it,” Mr. Trump told reporters about the second carrier. He added, “It’ll be leaving very soon.”

Already, Gulf Arab nations have warned any attack could spiral into another regional conflict in West Asia, still reeling from the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Iranians are beginning to hold 40-day mourning ceremonies for the thousands killed in Tehran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests last month, adding to the internal pressure faced by the sanctions-battered Islamic Republic.

The Ford, whose new deployment was first reported by The New York Times, will join the USS Abraham Lincoln and its accompanying guided-missile destroyers, which have been in the region for over two weeks. U.S. forces already have shot down an Iranian drone that approached the Lincoln on the same day last week that Iran tried to stop a U.S.-flagged ship in the Strait of Hormuz.

It is a quick turnaround for the Ford, which Mr. Trump sent from the Mediterranean Sea to the Caribbean last October as the administration built up a huge military presence in the lead-up to the surprise raid last month that captured then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

It also appears to be at odds with the Trump administration’s national security and defence strategies, which put an emphasis on the Western Hemisphere over other parts of the world.

In response to questions about the movement of the Ford, U.S. Southern Command said U.S. forces in Latin America will continue to “counter illicit activities and malign actors in the Western Hemisphere”.

“While force posture evolves, our operational capability does not,” Col. Emanuel Ortiz, spokesperson for Southern Command, said in a statement. U.S. “forces remain fully ready to project power, defend themselves, and protect U.S. interests in the region”.

The Ford strike group will bring more than 5,000 additional troops to West Asia but few capabilities or weapons that don’t already exist within the Lincoln group. Having two carriers will double the number of aircraft and munitions that are available to military planners and Mr. Trump.

Given the Ford’s current position in the Caribbean, it will likely be weeks before it is off the coast of Iran.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly threatened to use force to compel Iran to agree to constrain its nuclear programme and earlier over Tehran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests.

Iran and the United States held indirect talks in Oman a week ago, and Mr. Trump later warned Tehran that failure to reach an agreement with his administration would be “very traumatic”. Similar talks last year ultimately broke down in June as Israel launched what became a 12-day war on Iran that included the US bombing Iranian nuclear sites.

Asked by a reporter about the new negotiations, Mr. Trump said on Friday (February 13, 2026) that “I think they’ll be successful. And if they’re not, it’s going to be a bad day for Iran, very bad.”

Mr. Trump held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday (February 11, 2026) and said he insisted to Israel’s leader that negotiations with Iran needed to continue. Mr. Netanyahu is urging the administration to press Tehran to scale back its ballistic missile programme and end its support for militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah as part of any deal.

Iran has insisted its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes. Before the June war, Iran had been enriching uranium up to 60 per cent purity, a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels.

The USS Ford, meanwhile, first set sail in late June 2025, which means the crew will soon have been deployed for eight months. While it is unclear how long the ship will remain in West Asia, the move sets the crew up for an unusually long deployment.

The Navy’s top officer, Adm. Daryl Caudle, told reporters last month that keeping the Ford longer at sea would be “highly disruptive” and that he was “a big non-fan of extensions”.

Carriers are typically deployed for six or seven months. “When it goes past that, that disrupts lives; it disrupts things … funerals that were planned, marriages that were planned, babies that were planned,” Mr. Caudle said.

He said extending the Ford would complicate its maintenance and upkeep by throwing off the schedule of repairs, adding more wear and tear, and increasing the equipment that will need attention.

For comparison, the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower had a nine-month deployment to West Asia in 2023 and 2024, when it spent much of its time engaged with the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. The ship entered maintenance in early 2025 as scheduled, but it blew past its planned completion date of July and remains in the shipyard to this day.

Mr. Caudle told The Associated Press in a recent interview that his vision is to deploy smaller, newer ships when possible instead of consistently turning to huge aircraft carriers.

Published – February 14, 2026 04:41 am IST

The U.S.’s most advanced aircraft carrier arrived in the Caribbean Sea on Sunday (November 16, 2025) in a display of U.S. military power, raising questions about what the new influx of troops and weaponry could signal for the Trump administration’s intentions in South America as it conducts military strikes against vessels suspected of transporting drugs.

The arrival of the USS Gerald R. Ford and other warships, announced by the U.S. Navy in a statement, marks a major moment in what the administration insists is a counterdrug operation but has been seen as an escalating pressure tactic against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

The Ford rounds off the largest buildup of U.S. firepower in the region in generations. With its arrival, the “Operation Southern Spear” mission includes nearly a dozen Navy ships and about 12,000 sailors and Marines.

The carrier’s arrival came as the military announced its latest deadly strike on a small boat it claims was engaged in ferrying illegal drugs. The military’s Southern Command posted a video on X on Sunday (November 16, 2025) showing the boat being blown up, an attack it said took place Saturday (November 15, 2025) in international waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean and killed three men. A request for more information from the military was not immediately answered.

Since early September, such strikes by the U.S. in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific have now killed at least 83 people in 21 attacks.

The carrier strike group, which includes squadrons of fighter jets and guided-missile destroyers, transited the Anegada Passage near the British Virgin Islands on Sunday (November 16, 2025) morning, the Navy said.

Rear Adm. Paul Lanzilotta, who commands the strike group, said it will bolster an already large force of American warships to “protect our nation’s security and prosperity against narco-terrorism in the Western Hemisphere.”

Adm. Alvin Holsey, the commander who oversees the Caribbean and Latin America, said in a statement that the American forces “stand ready to combat the transnational threats that seek to destabilize our region.”

Adm. Holsey, who will retire next month after just a year on the job, said the strike group’s deployment is “a critical step in reinforcing our resolve to protect the security of the Western Hemisphere and the safety of the American Homeland.”

In Trinidad and Tobago, which is roughly 11 km from Venezuela at its closest point, government officials said troops have begun “training exercises” with the U.S. military that will run through much of the week.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Sean Sobers described the joint exercises as the second in less than a month and said they are aimed at tackling violent crime on the island nation, which has become a stopover point for drug shipments headed to Europe and North America. The Prime Minister has been a vocal supporter of the U.S. military strikes.

The exercises will include Marines from the 22nd Expeditionary Unit who have been stationed aboard the Navy ships that have been looming off Venezuela’s coast for months.

Venezuela’s government has described the training exercises as an act of aggression. It had no immediate comment Sunday (November 16, 2025) on the arrival of the aircraft carrier.

Meanwhile, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said Sunday (November 16, 2025) that U.S. troops have been training in Panama, underscoring the administration’s increasing focus on Latin America.

“We’re reactivating our jungle school in Panama. We would be ready to act on whatever” Mr. Trump and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth needed, he told CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

The administration has insisted that the buildup of American forces in the region is focused on stopping the flow of drugs into the U.S., but it has released no evidence to support its assertions that those killed in the boats were “narcoterrorists.” Mr. Trump has indicated military action would expand beyond strikes by sea, saying the U.S. would “stop the drugs coming in by land.”

The U.S. has long used aircraft carriers to pressure and deter aggression by other nations because their warplanes can strike targets deep inside another country. Some experts say the Ford is ill-suited to fighting cartels, but it could be an effective instrument of intimidation for Mr. Maduro in a push to get him to step down.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the United States does not recognize Mr. Maduro, who was widely accused of stealing last year’s election, as Venezuela’s legitimate leader. Mr. Rubio has called Venezuela’s government a “transshipment organisation” that openly cooperates with those trafficking drugs.

Mr. Maduro, who faces charges of narcoterrorism in the U.S., has said the U.S. government is “fabricating” a war against him. On his Facebook page, Mr. Maduro wrote on Sunday (November 16, 2025) that the “Venezuelan people are ready to defend their homeland against any criminal aggression.”

Venezuela’s government recently touted a “massive” mobilisation of troops and civilians to defend against possible U.S. attacks. Mr. Maduro and other officials in Venezuela’s socialist party also have been attending rallies this weekend to back the creation of neighbourhood committees that will be in charge of increasing membership in Venezuela’s socialist party, and promoting the party’s policies.

Mr. Trump has justified the attacks on drug boats by saying the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with drug cartels while claiming the boats are operated by foreign terrorist organisations.

He has faced pushback from leaders in the region, the U.N. human rights chief and U.S. lawmakers, including Republicans, who have pressed for more information on who is being targeted and the legal justification for the boat strikes.

Senate Republicans, however, recently voted to reject legislation that would have put a check on Mr. Trump’s ability to launch an attack against Venezuela without congressional authorisation.

Experts disagree on whether or not American warplanes may be used to strike land targets inside Venezuela. Either way, the 100,000-ton warship is sending a message.

“This is the anchor of what it means to have U.S. military power once again in Latin America,” said Elizabeth Dickinson, the International Crisis Group’s senior analyst for the Andes region. “And it has raised a lot of anxieties in Venezuela but also throughout the region. I think everyone is watching this with sort of bated breath to see just how willing the U.S. is to really use military force.”

Published – November 17, 2025 05:17 am IST

China’s third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, the most advanced homemade warship, began its maiden sea trials on May 1 as Beijing ramped up its naval power amid increasing tensions with the U.S. in the disputed South China Sea and Taiwan Strait.

The ship left Shanghai Jiangnan Shipyard on May 1 morning for the sea trials, primarily to test the reliability and stability of the aircraft carrier’s propulsion and electrical systems, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Since its launch in June 2022, the Fujian has completed its mooring trials, outfitting work and equipment adjustments. It has met the technical requirements for sea trials.

Ahead of the trials, China has imposed maritime traffic controls around the mouth of the Yangtze River where the Jiangnan shipyard ship is located for “military activities”.

The traffic controls would last till May 9, the report said.

According to the previous official media reports, China plans to have five to six aircraft carriers by 2035 for strategic deployment in the disputed South China Sea, where Beijing seeks to assert its claims over most of the vast area, the Taiwan Strait which separates the Chinese mainland and Taiwan and the Indian Ocean where Beijing is increasing its power projection.

Currently, the Chinese navy is involved in a standoff with the US-backed Philippines naval ships in the South China Sea.

The Philippines is trying to assert its claim over the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea which is strongly resisted by China.

China claims most of the South China Sea. The Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have counterclaims.

China names its aircraft carriers after its provinces. Fujian borders the Taiwan Strait. The other two carriers were named after Liaoning and the Shandong provinces.

China’s first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, was a refit of the Soviet-era ship commissioned in 2012 followed by the indigenously built 2nd aircraft carrier Shandong in 2019.

Chinese official media said Fujian is the “first fully domestically developed and constructed” aircraft carrier with an electromagnetic aircraft launch system (EMALS) similar to that of the American aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford.

Fujian has a full displacement of more than 80,000 tonnes, about 20,000 tonnes more than the other two aircraft carriers.

China’s other two aircraft carriers are equipped with ski-jump take-off ramps while the Fujian features a flat-top flight deck.

China operates its indigenously built J-15 aircraft for its carriers.

In a major rejig of its military doctrine, China in 2013 stepped up the development of the navy with a massive budget while cutting down the number of army troops as part of its power projection far from its shores.

The modernisation included building several aircraft carriers besides submarines, frigates and assault ships as part of its efforts to expand its global influence.

According to an estimate, China is building almost a naval ship a month. It is helping Pakistan to modernise its navy by providing its latest naval frigates and submarines.