18 Feb 2026 · 1:57 AM UTC
https://nitter.net/imetatronink/status/2023939931127849453

The US has now positioned in the Middle East a formidable array of assets to
prosecute an air campaign against Iran.

In addition to what has already been delivered, CSG-12 (USS Gerald R. Ford
CVN-78) is en route. But it is very unlikely it can arrive on station in the
eastern Mediterranean and be ready to conduct combat operations any sooner than
the end of the month.

I doubt the war will wait that long.

In fact, I still entertain suspicions that Trump ordering CSG-12 to the Middle
East is just a bluff intended to intimidate Iran into submitting to all
US/Israeli demands, and that eventually CSG-12 will turn around and go back home
before something breaks again on the USS Stumbling Gerry, and they have to send
a dozen tug boats half-way across the Atlantic to tow it back to Norfolk.

In any case, Iran is not going to submit. Sure, they will agree to not develop
nuclear weapons - that was always their position anyway.

But I remain convinced that is as far as they will go. Everything I have seen
indicates they are prepared to fight on THIS hill at THIS time.

And, I am likewise convinced that Israel MUST fight now, for the simple reason
that, with each passing month, Iran will grow stronger, and Israel will remain
the highly vulnerable speck of a country it has always been.

Most significantly, the magnitude of the force the US has now concentrated to
the region will not be seen again within Netanyahu's lifetime - and probably
never.

Therefore the Israelis have to make this happen NOW. And I doubt there are any
limitations to what they might do to ensure they get the war they're looking
for.

So, Trump has backed himself into a corner from which there is no escape. He has
congregated all the air and naval power the US can assemble without perilously
denuding its force posture elsewhere on the planet.

And, short of the Iranians prostrating themselves and bathing his feet with
tears and kisses, there is simply no way Trump cannot USE the large force he has
gathered to make war against Iran.

Consequently, we are about to find out if US military power is the juggernaut
none can defeat, or if things were never as Hollywood as Raytheon always
claimed them to be.