US Military prepares for potential "weekslong" campaign against Iran: report

• The US military is preparing for a potential weekslong campaign against Iran that would target state and security infrastructure—a plan reportedly far more complex than the "Midnight Hammer" nuclear strikes of June 2025.
• Trump ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford to join the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Middle East, publicly endorsing the idea of "regime change" as the best outcome while negotiations over Iran's nuclear program continue under threat of "traumatic" consequences.

The United States military is preparing for potential weekslong operations against Iran if president Trump orders an attack, two US officials said, cited by Reuters.

The planning currently being done by the military is more complex than the strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the “Midnight Hammer” operation in June 2025, the officials added to Reuters.

It could include state and security facilities, and not just nuclear facilities, the report added.

Trump said on Friday that a change of government in Iran would be the "best thing that could happen," as he ordered a second aircraft carrier to head to the Middle East.

"Seems like that would be the best thing that could happen," Trump told reporters at the Fort Bragg military base in North Carolina when a journalist asked if he wanted "regime change" in Iran.

"For 47 years, they've been talking and talking and talking. In the meantime, we've lost a lot of lives while they talk," he told reporters.

Trump revealed on Friday that a second aircraft carrier group would be heading to the Middle East soon, upping the military threat against Iran amid negotiations over its nuclear program.

"It'll be leaving very shortly," Trump told journalists when asked about reports the USS Gerald R. Ford would be moved from the Caribbean to the Middle East.

"In case we don't make a deal, we'll need it."

Washington and Tehran began indirect talks last week over the future of Iran's nuclear program, and Trump on Thursday warned of "very traumatic" consequences for the country if it failed to make a nuclear deal.

Late last month, Trump sent the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and accompanying warships to the Gulf as Trump ramped up threats against Iran over its deadly crackdown on anti-government protests.

The vessels remain in the region.

The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and its escort ships will join that strike group after officials ordered it to the Middle East from its current deployment in the Caribbean Sea.

The USS Gerald R. Ford initially deployed in June and was soon directed to the Caribbean as part of Trump's pressure campaign on Venezuela.

Some of the carrier's warplanes participated in the deadly January 3 operation in Caracas that led to the abduction of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro.