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  "path": "/news/world/iran-war-us-warplanes-donald-trump-nuclear-agreement",
  "publishedAt": "2026-02-19T01:21:18.000Z",
  "site": "https://www.gbnews.com",
  "tags": [
    "just hours after Iran launched a series of wargames",
    "Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean",
    "Iran shuts off vital shipping lane for first time in 40 years - and threatens to SINK American ships",
    "Iran launches missiles in chilling wargame on eve of key nuclear talks",
    "Iran 'targeted Christians during protests' - as worshippers plead with Donald Trump for help",
    "Strait of Hormuz",
    "The GB News Editorial Charter"
  ],
  "textContent": "\n\n\nA massive fleet of US warplanes is heading to Iran to lay the groundations to bomb the Islamic Republic.\n\nAircraft including combat jets and support plane like air-to-air refuellers are flying to the Middle East - just hours after Iran launched a series of wargames.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nThese manoeuvres, in conjunction with the approaching USS Gerald R Ford strike group and USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, have led insiders to estimate that there is a 90 per cent chance of war.\n\nFormer Israeli intelligence chief Amos Yadlin said he believes a strike would happen in a \"matter of days\".\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nTRENDING\n\nStories\n\nVideos\n\nYour Say\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nThe fleet of planes includes more than 50 American fighter jets, which include F-35s and F-16s, and dozens of air-to-air refuelling tankers.\n\nOne source within the administration told Axios: \"The boss is getting fed up. Some people around him warn him against going to war with Iran, but I think there is a 90 per cent chance we see kinetic action in the next few weeks.\"\n\nThe fleet of combat planes will be used to clear the path for heavier bombers behind them.\n\nSascha Bruchmann, a research fellow at the Bahrain-based International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank, said: \"They are there to kick the door in, what we call suppression of enemy air defences.\"\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nThe heavier bombers, such as B-2 stealth bombers and B-52 heavy bombers would be deployed from bases in the continental United States, Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, or Okinawa in Japan.\n\nTwenty of the American F-35s headed to the Middle East took off from RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk on Monday.\n\nA group of 25 F-16s also flew from the US to the region, landing in southern Israel, Crete, and Jordan.\n\nUS drones took off from Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates, spending several minutes over the region.\n\n### LATEST FROM IRAN:\n\n\n\n\n  * Iran shuts off vital shipping lane for first time in 40 years - and threatens to SINK American ships\n  * Iran launches missiles in chilling wargame on eve of key nuclear talks\n  * Iran 'targeted Christians during protests' - as worshippers plead with Donald Trump for help\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nThe MQ-4C Triton, used primarily by the Navy, is armed with 360-degree radar to surveil areas and track military targets.\n\nIran shut down the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday to conduct naval war games in response to America's building armada.\n\nExperts believe this accumulation of weaponry could sustain a weeks-long campaign against Iran in the case of a counter-attack.\n\nF-15s in the region have been seen fitted out to target drones, rather than for offensive operations.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nMatthew Savill, the director of military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), said the US had now built up more weaponry than what most countries could assemble.\n\nHe said: \"Israel could nearly double what is available in the air if it joined, and it’s worth recognising that the current force will be more precise than its predecessors, with greater air superiority.\"\n\nHe estimated that even without Israel's aid, once the second aircraft carrier arrives, the US forces could execute hundreds of strikes a week.\n\nThis comes amid talks between the two countries are being held in Geneva, with Donald Trump repeatedly threatening war if an agreement about Iran's nuclear programme is not met.\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n###\n\n\n\n\nVice President JD Vance said the Iranian regime was ignoring Donald Trump's \"red lines\".\n\nHe said: \"In some ways it went well. They agreed to meet afterwards.\n\n\"But in other ways, it was very clear that the president has set some red lines that the Iranians are not yet willing to actually acknowledge and work through.\"\n\nHowever, Karoline Leavitt, White House Press Secretary, said diplomacy was always Mr Trump's first option.\n\nShe added: \"Iran would be very wise to make a deal with President Trump and with this administration.\"\n\n###\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n**Our Standards:The GB News Editorial Charter **",
  "title": "Massive fleet of US warplanes heads to Iran as insiders warn of '90% chance of conflict'"
}