War With Iran 'Imminent'? Trump Could Give the 'Go' Order at Any Time

Rick Moran : Feb 18, 2026
PJ Media

"It's not in Trump's nature, and his advisers don't view the deployment of all that hardware as a bluff." -Axios

[PJMedia.com] The US and Iran held indirect talks in Geneva on Tuesday on ending Iran's nuclear enrichment and ballistic missile programs. Donald Trump's advisers, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, met with Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi for three hours, with no substantive progress toward meeting any of Trump's demands. (Screengrab image: via CBN News)

While the US and Iran were engaged in fruitless negotiations, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave a speech in Tehran, rejecting US demands that Iran end its enrichment and nuclear programs.

"Khamenei stated that Iran has a 'right' to have a 'nuclear industry,' which is a reference to Iran's nuclear program and uranium enrichment capabilities," reports the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). Khamenei also described "Iran's 'possession of deterrent weapons,' almost certainly in reference to Iran's ballistic missiles, as 'essential and obligatory' and claimed that this issue has 'nothing to do with' the United States," the report continued.

However, since Iran has launched thousands of ballistic missiles at Israel, our primary ally in the Middle East, and dozens of missiles at Saudi Arabia (not to mention funding terror groups and the Houthis' insurgency in Yemen), Iran has made the missiles an issue with the United States.

Witkoff told Iran to get back to us with new proposals in two weeks. As a reminder, Witkoff told Iran the same thing back in June, and three days later, essentially took out the Iranian nuclear program.

There is already a powerful armada in the waters off Iran, with the USS Abraham Lincoln and support ships on station in the Arabian Sea. They were joined on Feb. 17 by 50 additional F-35s, F-22s, and F-16s. Also on Feb. 17, Gulf News is reporting the most powerful aircraft carrier in the world, the USS Gerald R. Ford, entered the Strait of Gibraltar from the Atlantic side and is transiting into the Mediterranean Sea."

The Ford's position in the Mediterranean suggests the carrier could come within striking distance of Iran by approximately Feb. 20, depending on transit speed.

After the fruitless negotiating session in Geneva and Khamenei's defiant speech, Trump must realize that negotiations are a bust and that a decision must be made on whether to take the United States to war... Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

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