The United States is rapidly expanding its military footprint across the Middle East, positioning major naval and air assets across the region as the Trump administration mounts pressure on Iran.

While the second round of nuclear negotiations wrapped this week and were described as “constructive,” the United States has continued to amass over a dozen warships and hundreds of planes throughout the region. 

Here are the assets we know are powering America’s surging military presence:

Aircraft Carrier Strike Groups

At the center of the buildup are aircraft carrier strike groups — both equipped with aircraft, warships, and vast amounts of weaponry. 

USS Gerald R. Ford strike group

The USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest warship and its accompanying strike group, is en route to the Middle East from the Caribbean, according to USNI News.  On Wednesday morning, it was spotted off the coast of Morocco, presumably heading to the Strait of Gibraltar. The Ford strike group carries a full combat air wing of F/A-18 Super Hornets, EA-18G Growlers for electronic warfare, E-2D Hawkeye airborne command aircraft, and Seahawk helicopters — giving it deep strike, surveillance, and electronic attack capabilities.

USS Gerald R. Ford — nuclear aircraft carrier USS Bainbridge — Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Mahan — Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill — Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer

 

USS Abraham Lincoln Strike Group

The USS Abraham Lincoln Strike group arrived in the Arabian Sea last month after traveling from the South China Sea. As of Tuesday, the strike group was in position and reportedly around 700 kilometers away from Iran. The Lincoln strike group fields roughly 90 aircraft, including Marine F-35C stealth fighters, Super Hornets, Growlers, and Hawkeyes — a force capable of sustained combat operations.

USS Abraham Lincoln, aircraft carrier USS Frank E. Petersen Jr., Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Spruance, Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer

U.S. Warships

Mediterranean Sea

USS Roosevelt, Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Bulkeley, Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer

Red Sea

USS Delbert D. Black, Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer

 

Arabian Sea

USS McFaul, Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer

Persian Gulf

USS Mitscher, Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Michael Murphy, Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer (part of the USS Lincoln strike group) USS Canberra, Independence-class littoral combat ship USS Santa Barbara, Independence-class littoral combat ship USS Tulsa, Independence-class littoral combat ship

Airpower

Europe

Numerous U.S. aircraft have been observed staging through and departing from bases across the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, and Greece. The pace of movement has been so high that tracking every flight in real time has become increasingly difficult. Among the aircraft we have been able to confirm are:

Numerous F-22s in the United Kingdom Two E-3 Sentry AWACS in the United Kingdom 7 KC-135 Stratotankers departed the U.K. heading to Crete 12 F-16 Falcons seen leaving Italy Over a dozen refueling aircraft have been seen leaving the Middle East or Europe generally 6 F-35s seen leaving Spain RC-135 Rivet Joint signals aircraft seen arriving in Crete with another on the way

 

Middle East

Numerous aircraft have also been spotted in Jordan, Qatar, and flying over the Strait of Hormuz. Throughout Tuesday and Wednesday, The Daily Wire tracked U.S. military cargo planes flying to and from bases across the Middle East, presumably transporting equipment and other assets.

Over 50 F-15 and EA-18 fighter jets arrived at Muwaffaq Salti military base in Jordan, reported The Jerusalem Post. Airlift flights by C-17s and C-5Ms were reported between mid-January and February 9. Dozens more continued through Tuesday and Wednesday, according to live flight-tracking data.

(Drew Berkemeyer contributed to this report)

The hosts of ABC’s “The View” elevated Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) to “MENSA” status during Wednesday’s broadcast, drawing a bizarre comparison between the Democratic socialist darling and President Donald Trump.

Led by Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar, the ABC midday talk show’s hosts argued that Trump’s occasional verbal gaffes — including one recent instance in which he mentioned Iceland in place of Greenland — stand as incontrovertible evidence that Ocasio-Cortez is a certifiable genius by comparison.

WATCH:

After playing soundbites of Trump mispronouncing words, Joy Behar tries to claim AOC’s rambling answer on Taiwan was “Mensa” material.
Savannah Chrisley immediately counters: “Mispronouncing a word is totally different than not knowing your position on Taiwan.” pic.twitter.com/702X6SOJNY

— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) February 18, 2026

The hyperbolic comparison came after the Bronx congresswoman made several statements over the weekend that spotlighted her ignorance of both world history and current U.S. foreign policy. The first was a statement she made criticizing Secretary of State Marco Rubio for claiming that horses and the idea of American “cowboys” were originally brought to the United States by Spanish explorers and conquistadors. Of course, Rubio was correct. And the second was a rambling, incoherent response to a question about whether or not American troops should defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion.

Goldberg responded to the brouhaha regarding Ocasio-Cortez by playing a brief clip of Trump clearly saying “Iceland” when he meant to say “Greenland.”

“So, clearly …” she said, letting her voice trail off.

“My mother used to say, ‘Don’t spit up in the air, it comes back in your face,'” Behar added. “Okay? Check him out before you start attacking AOC, who, by the way, it sounded a little ‘homina, homina, homina,’ but you know, compared to him it’s like MENSA.”

Guest Savannah Chrisley stepped in to defend the president, saying that his “mispronouncing a word” was a far cry from having no idea what a policy was or how to articulate it.

“[It’s] totally different than not knowing your position on Taiwan,” she said. “And what’s important is how you recover from something.”

Trump followed his gaffe by meeting with world leaders and discussing global affairs and American interests, while Ocasio-Cortez went to The New York Times to complain that conservatives were sharing unflattering clips of her saying exactly what she’d said.

“The recovery is what mattered, and AOC just didn’t have a recovery,” Chrisley said.

“But he does it over and over again,” Behar complained. “How about the quantity of times?”

Goldberg then interrupted to point out that Trump is the current president, which obviously made his verbal gaffes a bigger deal than AOC’s, but made no effort to explain why she’d been silent while former President Joe Biden — while in office — was often unable to complete a sentence without mumbling something unintelligible or saying something staffers would have to clean up later.

“My point is, I can take ‘homina, homina’ from congresspeople and stuff, you don’t have your stuff together, that’s on you,” Goldberg declared. “Can’t take it from the guy who says he’s the leader of the free world.”