The Duran Podcast - US massive military build up for regime change

Episode Date: February 15, 2026

US massive military build up for regime change

All right, Alexander, let's talk about the meeting between Trump and Netanyahu, and let's talk about the moves that Trump appears to be making since that meeting with Netanyahu, specifically the two aircraft carriers that are now on the way to the region. One is the Bush aircraft carrier, which is heading to the Middle East. Actually, there are reports which said that Trump gave the order for that aircraft carrier to make its way to the Middle East three days ago. These are what some reports are saying. So that would mean it should arrive to the region in about a week by next Wednesdays, what some reports are claiming. We got the news yesterday that Trump has ordered the fort in Venezuela to now make its way to the region. This is a massive military buildup if these reports are true.

Yes. What's going on here? Well, the first thing to say is that Trump, of course, had a meeting with Netanyahu. A lot of people have had lots of expectations about that meeting. Trump published a true social post, which conveyed the very strong impression that there had been a route between them. And that Netanyahu had pressed him for some kind of attack on Iran, and that Trump pushed back and said that for the moment, at least, he's still committed to diplomacy. It's a very interesting post in a sense. Now, that one would like to believe is true,

but it is very like what happened back in June when he did the same thing. We had diplomacy and negotiations going on with the Iranians. There was about to be a meeting. There was going to be a meeting between Arapshi and Witkoff in Oman, And in fact, as the US media themselves are pointing out, there was already preparations by Israel to conduct a strike against Iran. And in fact, the strike took place before the meeting in a month of place. And the Iranians were lulled into complacency.

And a number of them, a large number of them, as a result, were killed. So it could be that we're looking at the same thing. And the reason that one has to worry that we are. looking at the same thing, that there is no real intention to pursue any kind of negotiating track, is because we are looking at these reports of two American aircraft carriers heading to the Middle East as well. So the Lincoln is there already. The Bush and the Ford, according to reports, are going to join. They will come with their escorts. the destroyers. This is something like a third of the US Navy, but it's not just a third of

the US Navy, because only part of the US Navy can be deployed at any one particular time. I guess it's about two-thirds of the US Navy that is deployable at any particular moment in time. of full-scale wall. So this is a huge builder. And the strike power of this force that is accumulating in the Arabian Sea is so enormous. I personally cannot see it as anything else than preparing the ground for some kind of attack over the next two or three weeks. Is this a big bluff from Trump? Well, I mean three, three. Three. Aircraft carrier groups? Is this a massive bluff?

I don't think it is, but I have to ask you the question. Is this part of his negotiating strategy? I can't believe it. I think that the trouble with the bluff of this guy on this scale is that it would be such an enormous bluff that if it were called, it would be even more humiliating, far more humiliating than if Trump had deployed just one carrier. So, I mean, he's now going so far in deploying carriers that I can't help but think that he's, that he's doing this because the Pentagon has told him, look, we've done the assessments, we've done the calculations, we've come to the decision, we just don't have enough forces to do what you are asking us to do. And I think if there was a row with Netanyahu, there really was some kind of argument with Netanyahu. It's because perhaps Netanyahu had been promised that there would be an attack either this weekend or the weekend which has just passed. And Trub had to explain to him that a couple of weeks are still needed because it turns out that Iran is much stronger than it appeared.

It was assumed to be, and there might have been some recriminations about this, because perhaps the Israelis have given indications that Iran is weaker, much weaker than the Pentagon really believes, and maybe this is what the, if there even was around, what it was really all about. Now, it was a three-hour meeting, and one of the things that immediately struck me when I saw who was attending is that, all right, there was Trump, Witkoff, Kushner, Harkaby, the U.S. ambassador to Israel. There was also, of course, Pete Hegeseth. But Trump came with civilians, whereas Netanyahu came with mostly military and security

officials. And that strongly suggests to me that Netanyahu is absolutely looking for some kind of war and some military action and perhaps wanted to know what hadn't happened already. All right. Final question. Overwhelming force then seems to be the strategy. If these aircraft carriers are indeed moving to the area, I don't see why they would not be moving to the area. All the media is reporting that this is happening. The strategy then is overwhelming force. Iraq-style shock and awe, something along those lines. Yes.

Do you think Trump is going to go with an all-out war with Iran? Because why else would you have that kind of firepower there? Do you think that he's preparing for a long, drawn-out conflict by moving all that firepower there? And to wrap up the video, what is Russia, China, bricks? What are they doing? What is Iran doing? Right, I do think he does want a long war. I think the whole point about this massive deployment is precisely that he's trying to deploy overwhelming force so that he achieved his objectives

without a long war. The Pentagon came back and told him Iran is much stronger than we thought. We don't have enough forces. So his reaction is, well, in that case, deploy more forces. So I think that is what he is calculating. Now, the big question is whether this force that he is deploying is going to be enough to achieve a quick victory. And I don't know because I'm not able to assess the strength ultimately of the other side. We are getting numerous reports and now I believe them to be true. I think that these reports are undoubtedly true, that both China and Russia are trying to lend Iran to the extent that Iran lets them a helping hand. There are Chinese spy ships apparently

now tracking the American fleet, the Lincoln and its destroyers, its accompanying destroyers. So they're already, the Chinese are already there. There are reports also that the Chinese are supplying Iran radars. And there certainly supply. Iran with satellite data. They're doing it, partly they're doing it publicly because they're publishing photos, the Chinese satellites and the Chinese are publishing photos of American bases across the Middle East, which show where the bases are and they give incredibly accurate targeting data publicly for the Iranians, which it does make one wonder if that's what the Iranians have been given in that form, what else they might be given privately. There are more

There are more rumors. What's coming from the Russians is more in the world of rumors. We know that Russia has supplied helicopter gunships to Iran because we've seen them. What the relevance of those are to this kind of conflict, I am not sure. But that looks like it was a longstanding contract from before. But there are also more rumors that the Russians are providing Iran with jamming equipment, which could be used against American incoming missiles. Probably the Russians are also providing targeting data.

There are reports, which I believe, by the way, that the Russians have deployed some military units close to the Iranian border, presumably in Central Asia, you know, Central Asian states that are allied to Russia, have borders with Iran. And there are also, again, speculations which come from Russia, by the way, that the Russians are providing Iran with technology to increase the effectiveness and the accuracy of Iran's own missiles. So a lot of pieces may be moving, but of course we don't see what is going on on the Iranian and other side in the way that we can see what is going on. what is going on on the American side, because movements of carriers are visible. They can't be

concealed. The kind of things the Russians, the Iranians, the Chinese are doing, to a great extent, can be concealed. And of course, we always have to ask ourselves this question, which is the question that always we must ask, how ultimately stable is Iran itself? How much control does Iran have over its society, over its country. You're hearing lots of stories that Kurdish militia are being prepared in the west of Iran, that Baloochie militia are being prepared in the east of Iran, that there is a potential crisis being built up there. Who knows these are the things that are difficult for outsiders to assess?

All I can say is that one of the consistent stories about Iran over the last few years is the extent of Israeli and Western penetration of the Iranian government. And I have no confidence that that has ended. And that is, I think, Iran's great weakness, is great Achilles heel. We wait and see, I guess. That's all we can do. Exactly. We can see and analyze.

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