Is Trump about to go to war with Iran?
"You're gonna be finding out over the next, probably, 10 days," the president said on Thursday.
Andrew Romano / Thu, February 19, 2026 at 3:46 PM ESTIn recent weeks, President Trump has amassed what he’s described as an “armada” of destroyers, aircraft carriers, warships, submarines and attack planes within striking distance of Iran — a build-up that has “progressed to the point [where he] has the option to take military action … as soon as this weekend,” the New York Times reported on Wednesday.
At the same time, the president has said that regime change “would be the best thing that could happen” to Iran, which has been ruled by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei since 1989.
“We have to make a meaningful deal, otherwise bad things happen,” Trump told his Board of Peace in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. “They can't have a nuclear weapon and they've been told that very strongly."
If a possible U.S. attack on Iran sounds familiar, that’s because Trump already launched one in June 2025, striking the regime’s Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites in concert with Israel.
Is Trump about to go to war with Iran?
"You're gonna be finding out over the next, probably, 10 days," the president said on Thursday.
U.S. military forces are gathering in posture staged to attack Iran.
- Is this a bluff, to pressure Iran to accept Trump's unappealing terms?
- Or is it preparatory to Trump imposing them on Iran?