US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that an American "war fleet" was moving towards Iran, but expressed hope that he would not have to use it, and reiterated his warnings to Tehran against killing protesters or resuming its nuclear program.
US officials said the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln and a number of guided-missile destroyers would arrive in the Middle East in the coming days.
One official said that additional air defense systems were also being considered for deployment to the Middle East, which could be crucial for defense if any Iranian attack on US bases in the region occurred.
The deployment of equipment expands Trump's options, whether to enhance the protection of US forces in the region amid current tensions or to take any additional military action after the strikes on Iranian nuclear sites in June.
"We have a large number of ships moving in that direction, in anticipation of any emergency... I don't want anything to happen, but we are watching them closely," Trump told reporters on board Air Force One on his way back to the United States after meeting with leaders from around the world in Davos, Switzerland.
In a related context, he said, "We have a war fleet... moving in that direction, and perhaps we will not have to use it."
The warships began moving from the Asia-Pacific region last week, as tensions between Iran and the United States escalated following a violent crackdown on protests that took place across Iran in the recent period.
Trump repeatedly threatened to intervene against Iran over the recent killing of protesters there, but the protests subsided last week and Trump's rhetoric on Iran softened, saying he had managed to stop the execution of detainees.
He repeated this claim on Thursday, stating that Iran had canceled about 840 hangings after his warnings.
Trump said, "I said, 'If you execute these people, you will be hit with a force like you have never seen before, and this will make what we did with your nuclear program look like nothing.'"
"And an hour before this horrible thing was to be carried out, they canceled it," he added, calling the cancellation a "good sign."
The U.S. military has periodically reinforced its forces in the Middle East during times of heightened tensions, moves that have largely been for defensive purposes.
However, the U.S. military significantly mobilized its forces last year before its June strikes against Iran's nuclear program.
Trump said the United States would act if Tehran resumed its nuclear program after the June strikes on key sites.
"If they try to do that again, they should move to another area, and we will hit them there too, just as easily," he added on Thursday.
Iran must report to the International Atomic Energy Agency on what happened to the sites struck by the United States and the nuclear materials believed to be there, including an estimated 440.9 kilograms of uranium enriched to a purity of up to 60 percent, which is close to the approximately 90 percent level needed to make weapons, and this quantity is sufficient, if further enriched, to make ten nuclear bombs, according to IAEA standards.
At least seven months have now passed since the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency last verified Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium, and its guidelines stipulate that this verification must be carried out monthly.
Regarding the protests, it remains unclear whether they will escalate again.
The protests began on December 28, 2025, in the form of limited demonstrations in the "Grand Tehran Bazaar" due to economic difficulties and quickly spread throughout the country.
The Human Rights Activists News Agency "HRANA," a US-based human rights organization, stated that it has so far verified 4,519 deaths related to the unrest, including 4,251 protesters, and reported that it is reviewing the circumstances of another 9,049 deaths.
An Iranian official told Reuters that the confirmed death toll as of Sunday exceeded five thousand, including 500 security forces.
When Trump was asked about the number of protesters killed, he replied, "Nobody knows... I mean, it's a lot, regardless of anything."
