\n<\/p>\n
United States President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened that Washington could intervene militarily in Iran if there is a violent crackdown on demonstrators amid ongoing protests.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, it emerged that some personnel have been advised to leave the United States military\u2019s al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar by Wednesday evening, heightening fears of a US strike and potential Iranian retaliation.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n Protests in Iran began in late December 2025 over Iran\u2019s worsening economic conditions. Since then, however, they have escalated into a broader challenge to the country\u2019s clerical leadership, which has been in power since the 1979 Islamic revolution.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, Trump took to social media to tell protesters in Iran that help was \u201con its way\u201d, prompting speculation that US intervention in the country could be imminent.<\/p>\n But if Washington does intervene in Iran, what options does it have, and how feasible are they?<\/p>\n In a post on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday, Trump wrote: \u201cIranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price. I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY. MIGA!!! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cMIGA\u201d refers to \u201cMake Iran Great Again\u201d \u2013 a play on Trump\u2019s \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d slogan.<\/p>\n The US president did not expand on what form this \u201chelp\u201d would take.<\/p>\n However, on January 2, Trump wrote on Truth Social that if Iran \u201cviolently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue\u201d. He added: \u201cWe are locked and loaded and ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n On Monday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News that while diplomacy remained Trump\u2019s first option for Iran, he is \u201cunafraid to use the lethal force and might of the United States military if and when he deems that necessary\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cAir strikes would be one of the many, many options that are on the table for the commander-in-chief,\u201d Leavitt said. As president of the US, Trump is the commander-in-chief of the armed forces.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s made it quite clear he certainly doesn\u2019t want to see people being killed in the streets of Tehran, and unfortunately, that\u2019s something we\u2019re seeing right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Referring to Trump\u2019s use of military force in Iran, Leavitt said: \u201cNobody knows that better than Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n In June 2025, during Iran\u2019s 12-day war with Israel, the US bombed\u00a0three Iranian nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan following more than a week of Israeli strikes on Tehran\u2019s military and nuclear sites. The 12-day war between Iran and Israel lasted from June 13 to June 24.<\/p>\n However, the situation now is not the same as it was in June last year. The US military presence has since decreased in the Middle East.<\/p>\n The USS Gerald Ford, the US Navy aircraft carrier and the world\u2019s largest warship, left Norfolk, Virginia, on June 24 and was deployed to the Mediterranean near the Middle East, allowing Washington to showcase its military posture in the region during the 12-day war.<\/p>\n However, the USS Gerald Ford has now been sent to the Caribbean as part of US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) for Operation Southern Spear, which has been building off the coast of Latin America since November.<\/p>\n US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that operation was launched to target alleged \u201cnarco-terrorists\u201d in Latin America. US strikes have been carried out at least 30 times on Venezuelan boats in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean, which the US alleges were carrying drugs, although it has provided no evidence of this.<\/p>\n On January 3, US forces abducted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whom the Trump administration describes as a narco-terrorist. He currently faces charges related to weapons and drug trafficking in New York.<\/p>\n It would take about 10 days for the USS Gerald Ford to travel between the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, according to estimates in an October 2025 analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) carried out before the warship\u2019s deployment to Latin America. This is if it travels 20 knots on average, which is 37km\/h (23mph).<\/p>\n Based on the CSIS numbers, it would likely take the Ford another week to travel from the Mediterranean Sea to the Gulf, and the coast of Iran. \u201cLonger if it needs to work its way through Suez [to reach the Gulf],\u201d said Alex Gatopoulos, Defence Editor at Al Jazeera.<\/p>\n However, he added: \u201cI don\u2019t think they would place it that close to Iran. Because you bring it within range of Iranian anti ship missiles.\u201d<\/p>\n Besides the Ford, the US has moved its associated strike group vessels out of the Mediterranean Sea, primarily to the Caribbean Sea as well. As a result, the US strike power in the Middle East is currently significantly smaller than it was in June.<\/p>\n In March 2025, a unit from the US Patriot air defence systems was redeployed from South Korea to the US CENTCOM area to strengthen missile defences in the Middle East amid escalating tensions with Iran and Houthi rebels.<\/p>\n However, the unit returned to South Korea on October 30, 2025, to receive equipment upgrades and resume its role in defending the Korean Peninsula.<\/p>\n Despite the relocation of its warships, the US does still operate a broad network of military sites, both permanent and temporary, in at least 19 locations in the Middle East. This has remained the same between June and now.<\/p>\n Of these, eight are permanent bases in Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n According to unnamed diplomats quoted by the Reuters news agency, some personnel have been instructed to leave the US military\u2019s Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar by Wednesday, but it is unclear for what reason. Al Udeid is the Middle East\u2019s largest US base, and it houses 10,000 troops. During the 12-day war, Iran launched an attack on the Al Udeid base.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a posture change and not an ordered evacuation,\u201d one of the diplomats told Reuters, adding he\u2019s not aware of any specific reason for the move.<\/p>\n This was after US B\u20112 stealth bombers dropped 14 \u201cbunker buster\u201d bombs on at least two Iranian nuclear sites. The US still has the military capacity to do this.<\/p>\n \u201cTrump favours short, sharp operations with minimal risk to US troops,\u201d Shahram Akbarzadeh, a professor of Middle East and Central Asian politics at Australia\u2019s Deakin University, told Al Jazeera.<\/p>\nRecommended Stories <\/h2>\n
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