The US military is ready to attack Iran as early as this weekend, if US President Donald Trump gives the green light.
This is what sources with knowledge of the matter tell the American media outlet CNN.
Donald Trump has not made a final decision on whether to authorize military action in Iran, the media outlet writes.
According to the sources, the US has significantly reinforced its air and naval forces in the Middle East in recent days.
A source says that Trump has argued both for and against an attack on Iran and has asked advisers and allies for advice on the best way forward.
It is unclear whether Trump will make a decision before the weekend.
- He (Trump, ed.) is spending a lot of time thinking about this, one of the sources told CNN.
Iran and the United States are currently negotiating a nuclear deal. Representatives from the two countries have met in Switzerland in recent days.
Iran's foreign minister said after the negotiations that a nuclear deal will not be concluded in the near future, but that the path towards an agreement has been opened.
Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to take military action against Iran - first because of the Iranian authorities' violence against government-critical protesters and then because of the country's nuclear program.
The United States wants Iran to limit its nuclear program. The United States, Israel and several European countries are concerned that the goal of Iran's nuclear program is to produce a nuclear bomb. Iran denies that this is the case.
Trump said on Friday that the aircraft carrier USS "Gerald R. Ford" - the world's largest warship - will sail for the Middle East "very soon" to increase pressure on Iran.
- In the event that we do not make a deal, we will need it, he said.
CNN writes that the aircraft carrier could arrive in the Middle East as early as this weekend.
The huge vessel is currently in the Atlantic Ocean near Morocco and, according to AFP, sailed from the Caribbean.
Another aircraft carrier, the USS "Abraham Lincoln", is among 12 American ships already in the Middle East.
/ritzau/
