What are Trump’s options to attack Iran?: How US has tens of thousands of troops in bases across the Middle East – as aircraft carrier steams to the Gulf amid growing fears Trump will wade into war

Da Nang, a port city in Vietnam, had been bracing to receive the behemoth USS Nimitz aircraft carrier this week when the ship announced that it was changing course.

The 1092ft vessel had been conducting ‘routine’ security operations in the Indo-Pacific when it was called away from its duties and started heading west, towards the burgeoning firefight between Israel and Iran.

A White House spokesperson assured that U.S. forces in the Middle East remained in a ‘defensive posture’, despite the flurry of activity. But President Donald Trump has been more bellicose, warning Tehran that if the U.S. is attacked in any way, ‘the full strength and might of the US Armed Forces will come down on you at levels never seen before’. 

Iran has threatened to drag the United States into the conflict by attacking their bases in the region should Washington intervene on Israel’s behalf. Britain and France, with smaller strongholds in the Middle East, were also name-checked in the warning.

It could be a brazen bluff from what remains of Tehran’s military leadership, anticipating that another war in the Middle East would sit poorly with American voters. But it is not without precedent. Iran struck a key foothold in Iraq with ballistic missiles in 2020, and proxy groups are already believed to have sent drones to antagonise the airbase since Israel launched its surprise attack on Iran on Friday.

While Trump has sought a reduced role for the military in policing the Middle East, U.S. bases remain scattered across the region – the legacy of assuming Europe’s role in the area through the Cold War and into the 21st century.

Today, there are an estimated 46,000 American troops across the Middle East, joined by fleets of ships and jets – some state-of-the-art, others battle-hardened after decades of fierce fighting in the desert. As tensions continue to escalate, the Trump administration is seeking to bolster American capabilities in the region even further.

As world leaders meeting at a G7 summit on Monday called a de-escalation of a rapidly spiralling confrontation between Israel and Iran, Donald Trump took a different tone.

In comments on board Air Force One during his midnight departure from Canada, the U.S. president said he wanted a ‘real deal’ to end Iran’s nuclear programme – but caveated that he ‘never said I was looking a ceasefire’.

Hours later, Trump remained resolute as he touched down on U.S. soil. He reiterated plainly: ‘I’m not looking for a ceasefire, we’re looking at better than a ceasefire.’ He said he was looking for ‘an end, a real end, not a ceasefire.’

Since Friday, the conflict has been limited to unilateral strikes by Israel against Iran, and Iran in turn returning fire. Trump predicted that Israel would not let up anytime soon, telling CBS: ‘You’re going to find out over the next two days. You’re going to find out. Nobody’s slowed up so far.’

The United States has so far maintained a defensive posture. It did help Israel with air defence by shooting down incoming ballistic missiles and drones heading towards Israel. But Trump was also said to have vetoed an Israeli opportunity to kill Iran’s supreme leader – a sign, perhaps, of restraint.

Bases scattered across the region threaten to upend that. Sources told Axios in recent days that the Trump administration has said it does not plan to get actively involved in the war – unless Iran targets Americans.

Thousands of American troops remain in the area. Troops levels fluctuate, but there are estimated to be 46,000 American military personnel still in the region. There are military facilities across at least nineteen sites, eight of them considered permanent.

Still, this is a far cry from the 160,000 coalition troops sent into Iraq during the initial invasion – a fraction of the personnel needed to prosecute a war. But the U.S. has sought to reinforce its numbers in recent days, sending dozens of Stratotanker refuelers and at least 12 F-22 and F-35s east via Europe.

Iran would risk hurting its own economy or provoking another military power with an attack on foreign soil. But recent history shows the regime in Tehran is not beyond striking an American base in a third party nation if pressed.

Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar

Al Udeid is the United States’ largest military base in the Middle East, built in the wake of the first Gulf War. 

Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, the base has acted as the main hub for American and British air operations in the Persian Gulf, hosting some 11,000 American troops and more than 100 aircraft, including strategic bombers, tankers and surveillance assets.

Today, Al Udeid is the operational headquarters of the Royal Air Force in the Middle East and a key site for the US Air Force (USAF). The US Department of Defence says it was used as the primary staging ground for most air operations in the campaign to defeat ISIS. 

The air base covers 12.3 sq-km and supports two runways, each 3,750 metres in length. They are, as a result, able to accommodate every aircraft the U.S. has at its disposal.

Al Udeid is still home to more than 90 combat and support aircraft, The National reports, including B-52 bombers, KC-135s refuelers, and MQ-9 Reaper Drones. 

Qatar has spent around $8bn modernising the base in recent years, including $1.4bn on troop housing and airfield improvements, The Hill reports. An Iranian strike on Al Udeid would agitate the generally cordial relationship Tehran has with Doha. 

Qatar, like Kuwait, has reportedly restricted the use of bases for operations against Iran. But Al Udeid would be a useful launchpad for the U.S. to wage war in the Middle East today. 

Retired Brigadier General Steve Anderson told CNN that Al Udeid is ‘probably the most significant’ site in the region, hosting ‘quite a number of F-16s, F-35s that can fly out of there’.

Ain Al-Assad airbase, Iraq

Ain Al-Assad base was the second largest US military airbase in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom and has remained a foothold for coalition forces, including British troops.

There are an estimated 2,500 U.S. military personnel in Iraq, spread across facilities like Ain Al-Assad and Union III. 

Their future in the region had been called into question, the U.S. expected to resolve the coalition mission it started in 2014 to combat ISIS by September 2025.

There were also some 900 U.S. troops were still in Syria as of September 2024 as part of the campaign.

Ain Al-Assad appeared to have been targeted late last week as tensions in the Middle East reheat. 

The Associated Press reported that U.S. forces stationed at the airbase, in western Iraq, had come under attack from three drones on June 14. Analysts believe the drones would have been fired by Iran-backed proxies, rather than Tehran itself.

The drones were intercepted before hitting their targets.

Ain Al Assad was attacked by Iran in January 2020 during the largest ballistic missile attack on American forces in US history.

Iran’s attack was launched in retaliation for a US strike ordered by then-President Donald Trump on January 3, 2020, that killed top Islamic Revolutionary Guard General, Qassem Soleimani. 

Eleven warheads, each weighing about 1,600 lbs, struck the air base. 

Leaked military memos revealed last year suggest that US service members may also have been exposed to toxic and radioactive materials during the attack.

USS Nimitz Strike Group

U.S. aircraft carrier USS Nimitz left the South China Sea on Monday morning heading west after a reception for its planned port call in central Vietnam was cancelled.

The carrier had planned to visit Danang City later this week, but two sources, including one diplomat, said a formal reception slated for June 20 had been called off.

Exactly why was unclear. One of the sources said the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi had informed him about the cancellation, due to ‘an emergent operational requirement’.

Data from Marine Traffic showed the carrier on Monday morning was moving west in the direction of the Middle East, where the battle between Israel and Iran is escalating.

The Nimitz-class aircraft carriers are among the largest warships in the world, measuring around 1090ft and hosting more than 5,000 personnel. Two nuclear reactors power the vessels, which are capable of speeds in excess of 30 knots, with practically unlimited range.

The inbound USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group will arrive with nine aircraft squadrons, the Arleigh Burke-Class Guided-Missile Destroyer, and the Ticonderoga-Class Guided Missile Cruiser, according to the Department of Defence.

Mr Anderson told CNN that, by his understanding, there are two destroyers within range to ‘be able to support Israel right now’, and ‘46,000 troops scattered across nine different installations all over the Middle East’.

USS Carl Vinson Strike Group

The USS Nimitz will join the USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group, hitherto stationed in the Gulf of Aden as a show of force to the Yemeni Houthi rebels.

The USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier is now in the Arabian Sea with the four warships in its strike group. They are not participating in the defense of Israel. 

The USS Nimitz has been long scheduled to take over for the Carl Vinson and is heading west from the Indo-Pacific region. 

The official said it is slated to arrive in the region by the end of the month, and the two carriers would likely overlap in the Middle East at least for a short time before the Vinson heads home to San Diego. 

The USS Carl Vinson travels with the Ticonderoga class guided-missile cruiser USS Princeton and Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers.

It also has access to nine aircraft squadrons, including F035C Lighting IIs, and F/A-18E/F Super Hornets. 

Diego Garcia, Chagos Islands

The United States sent an ‘unprecedented’ deployment of its heavy B-2 bombers to the Chagos Islands as tensions over nuclear talks with Iran grew in April.

Six stealth bombers flew in to the U.S. airbase on Diego Garcia from Missouri in what was said to have been the ‘largest single deployment in US history’.

Asked at the time if the U.S. was gearing up to strike Iranian nuclear facilities, Trump said: ‘Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and if the talks aren’t successful I actually think it will be a very bad day for Iran if that’s the case.’

The challenge will be refuelling bombers tasked with potentially travelling 3,500 miles from Diego Garcia to the Middle East, Mr Anderson explained. US Air Force tankers were deployed across the Atlantic on Sunday en route to the region.

With the B-2 Bombers, the U.S. would be able to provide vital bunker busters, such as the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (GBU-57), capable of penetrating up to 200ft and putting Iran’s remaining nuclear sites in jeopardy. 

The U.S. had already been building up its military presence in the region amid ongoing clashes with the Yemeni Houthi rebels and ISIS in Syria. 

In May, the Pentagon sent fighter jets to the military base in the Indian Ocean to protect assets there, the War Zone military news website reported.

A senior officer from U.S.-Indo Pacific Command said that F-15s had been deployed to ‘provide force protection’, without specifying how many.

In March, satellite imagery showed C-17 cargo planes and KC-135 refueling tankers had been moved to Chagos. And by the end of the month, the U.S. said it had sent ‘several’ additional A-10 Warthogs to the Middle East, along with 300 airmen. 

Camp Arifjan, Kuwait 

The United States has a mixed-purpose military base in Kuwait, stationing parts of the US Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard as well as troops from the UK.

The base today serves as the primary logistics, supply and command hub for US military operations in the Middle East.

Announcing new warehouses to ensure combat ready equipment could be housed at the base in 2016, the army revealed there was approximately $5.5bn worth of equipment across the site. 

Naval Support Activity, Bahrain

Naval Support Activity Bahrain, or NSA Bahrain, is home to the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, hosting approximately 8,300 military personnel, Department of Defence civilian staff and their families.

The base is developed from the site of HMS Jufair, a Royal Navy outpost established during World War II and transferred to the United States in 1971.

In the American era, the base was used to support operations during the War in Afghanistan and the Second Gulf War.

Prince Sultan Air Base, Saudi Arabia

The Prince Sultan Air Base (PSAB) was built in 1951 and used by the American during the War in Afghanistan to coordinate offensive air operations launched from other countries.

The U.S. moved its operations at PSAB to Al Udeid in Doha in 2003, during the War in Iraq, after the Saudi government refused to allow them to use the base to strike Afghanistan and al-Qaeda.

Andreas Papandreou Air Force Base, Cyprus

A little over 100 miles from Beirut, Cyprus remains of real strategic importance to powers looking to project power in the Middle East.

Marines were stationed at the American Andreas Papandreou AFB late last year, prepared for potential evacuations during Israel’s strikes on Hezbollah. They brought with them a contingent of V-22 Osprey aircraft, Newsweek reports. 

Although Cypriot officials insisted that any use of the base by foreign forces would require local sign off and could not be used to coordinate military strikes.

In January, one Cypriot official told the Associated Press that the USAF was looking to upgrade the air base for use as a humanitarian staging post in future operations.

RAF Akrotiri, also on Cyprus, is Britain’s largest air force base in the region. Some 2,220 British soldiers were stationed at bases on the island as of April last year, according to the Ministry of Defence.

The British Army permanently deploys two infantry battalions to the bases on Cyprus. 

Incirlik Air Base, Turkey 

Incirlik is a Turkish airbase in Adana also used by the United States Air Force and, at times, the Royal Air Force and Royal Saudi Air Force.

Continued use depends on Turkish benevolence, however. President Tayyip Erdogan threatened to close down the base, which hosts U.S. nuclear warheads, in response to threats of U.S. sanctions in 2019.

An estimated 50 American B61 nuclear bombs were stored at Incirlik Air Base.

Thousands of U.S. troops stopped at Incirlik as a safe midpoint on the way back to their home post during the Second Gulf War.