President Donald Trump said on January 22 that a "large military force" is moving toward Iran and that he is watching events there "very closely." He added that he prefers no sudden developments in Tehran but warned that secondary tariffs on countries trading with Iran, announced earlier, will be imposed soon.
Trump also threatened military action if the Iranian government proceeds with planned executions of some protestors, saying any U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear sites would be "dwarfed" by what he might order in response. The rhetoric combines explicit military warning with economic coercion, signaling a willingness to use both hard and soft power to influence Tehran's behavior.
A U.S. Navy official confirmed that the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln and three escorting destroyers left the South China Sea earlier this week and have sailed west, with the carrier strike group now in the Indian Ocean. The deployment reduces immediate U.S. carrier presence in the western Pacific even as it reinforces deterrence in and around the Persian Gulf and the broader Middle East.
On other international matters, Mr. Trump said NATO will have a role on Greenland and described the island's autonomy framework under Danish sovereignty as containing elements "favorable to Europe." Asked about trilateral talks in the UAE involving the United States, Ukraine and Russia, he said the U.S. would "wait and see," noting his belief that both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskiy want a deal and that Zelenskiy had told him he hopes an agreement can be reached.
This combination of military signaling, economic penalties and public diplomacy comes against a backdrop of heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran. The administration's dual-track approach—threatening force while readying sanctions—is designed to deter further escalation in the short term, but it also raises the risk of miscalculation that could draw regional actors into a wider confrontation.
For international audiences, the developments matter on several fronts: they could affect shipping and energy markets in the Gulf, complicate alliances as partners weigh secondary sanctions, and reshape U.S. force posture in the Indo-Pacific at a time when Washington is trying to deter both Iran and an increasingly assertive China. How allies, particularly in Europe and the Gulf, respond to threats of secondary tariffs and the prospect of renewed U.S. military action will determine whether this pressure campaign succeeds without triggering broader instability.