On Thursday morning, Trump's "Peace Commission" held its first meeting in Washington, where he announced that member states had pledged $7 billion in investment for the reconstruction of Gaza. He also stated that the U.S. would contribute about $10 billion for this purpose, which he called a "small number" compared to the cost of endless wars. However, he did not specify whether Congress had approved new funding or reveal the source of the money. He also announced the appointment of his son-in-law Kushner as a special peace envoy, specifically responsible for coordinating the facilitation of new diplomatic agreements. He praised Kushner's previous role in Middle East negotiations, including facilitating the Abraham Accords. Regarding the issue of Iran, Trump said he hoped to reach an agreement with Iran to curb its nuclear weapons program - a plan that he had previously stated had been severely weakened by U.S. military strikes a few months ago. However, after deploying a large amount of military resources to the Persian Gulf to prepare for possible attacks, he did not rule out the possibility of war. He said the U.S. "may have to go further, or may not," and it will be clear within about ten days.

Over the past few weeks, U.S. forces have massed in areas near Iran. But unlike last June when the U.S. and Israel jointly attacked Iranian nuclear facilities, the target of Trump's current move remains unclear. The forces sent to the Middle East include two aircraft carriers, one of which is the Lincoln, whose fleet includes three warships equipped with Tomahawk cruise missiles that participated in the attack on two Iranian nuclear facilities in June of last year. The F-35 and F/A-18 fighter jets on board are within striking range of dozens of targets inside Iran, and can launch an attack at Trump's command.

Recently, the most advanced Ford-class carrier and three destroyers were also dispatched to the region. As of Wednesday, the fleet was heading towards the Strait of Gibraltar. The fighters on the Ford had participated in the operation against Venezuela on January 3.

Additionally, another destroyer has been dispatched to the northern part of the Arabian Sea, and another is en route. According to U.S. Navy officials, the total number of destroyers in the region has reached 13. The Muwaffaq Salim Air Base in eastern Jordan seems to have become the core hub for U.S. air power in this deployment. Between mid-January and mid-February, at least two batches of strike aircraft arrived at the base, increasing the number of aircraft stationed there to nearly 30.

In addition to strike aircraft, four electronic warfare planes arrived in Jordan in late January. Satellite images from January 30 also showed that at least five MQ-9 Reaper drones were deployed at the base.

Flight tracking data and satellite images indicate that the U.S. is also moving more aircraft to the region, including refueling aircraft and reconnaissance aircraft. Recently, dozens of refueling and transport aircraft have been redeployed from the U.S. to multiple bases in Europe to support troops in the Middle East.

The Pentagon has also deployed Patriot and THAAD air defense systems to the region to prevent retaliatory strikes by Iranian short-range and medium-range missiles against U.S. forces in the area. There are currently between 30,000 and 40,000 U.S. personnel in the region.

Long-range bombers stationed in the U.S. that can strike Iranian targets are currently on high alert. In January this year, following Trump's request to develop a plan to respond to Iran's suppression of domestic protests, the Pentagon raised the alert level. Since then, several special operations aircraft, reconnaissance aircraft, and refueling aircraft were dispatched to the Diego Garcia military base in the Indian Ocean, which serves as a forward deployment airport for the B-2 stealth bombers.

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Original: toutiao.com/article/1857618619605003/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author himself.