Ammon News - The US will be ready to begin a war on Iran by Saturday, Donald Trump has been told.

Defence officials reportedly briefed the president that the formidable build-up of American aircraft and ships would reach the necessary level for air strikes to begin by the weekend.

It follows the movement of around 50 extra fighter jets, as well as air-to-air refuelling tankers and other aircraft towards the Middle East this week.

A second aircraft carrier strike group, USS Gerald R. Ford, is also expected to reach the eastern Mediterranean within days.

The combined combat jets, support aircraft and warships should allow the US to bombard Iran non-stop for weeks if Trump gives the order.

The US president suggested he would make a decision on whether to bomb Iran “over the next probably 10 days,” without elaborating.

Combined with bolstered ground-based missile defences around the Middle East over the last month, these assets should also enable the US to better defend itself, its Gulf allies and Israel against an Iranian retaliation with ballistic missiles.

Speaking at the first meeting of his Board of Peace in Washington on Thursday, Trump said Iran was in a “hot spot right now” and threatened its leaders with “bad things” if they did not make concessions.

“Good talks are being had. It’s proven to be, over the years, not easy to make a meaningful deal with Iran,” the US president said.

“We have to make a meaningful deal, otherwise bad things happen.”

The US president is not believed to have decided yet whether to strike Iran.

Telegraph