This story was originally published on Truthout on Feb. 19, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.
The U.S. is rapidly building up its military force in the Middle East, amassing an amount of air power reminiscent of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, as President Donald Trump mulls attacks on Iran without seeking congressional approval.
Top administration officials reported that the White House has been told that the U.S. is ready to strike Iran as soon as this weekend, CBS News reports, with other news outlets confirming.
On Thursday, at opening remarks for his “Board of Peace” event, Trump said that “you’re going to be finding out probably over the next 10 days” whether the U.S. will attack Iran. He once again threatened Iran to negotiate a deal with the U.S. on its nuclear program, or else “bad things will happen.”
Reports find that the military is, indeed, prepared for a significant operation. Air and sea trackers have shown an enormous amount of firepower being amassed in the region, with the Wall Street Journal comparing the amount of air power concentrated there to the build-up before the 2003 Iraq invasion.
Trump has not yet made the final decision on whether to strike, outlets have reported. Israel, which has long urged the U.S. to initiate war with Iran, may participate in potential attacks.
Trump does not have the statutory authority to unilaterally launch a war with Iran. Representatives Ro Khanna (D-California) and Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) have said that they are planning to force a vote on a War Powers Resolution next week in hopes of preventing strikes.
“Like the votes before the Iraq war, this could be one of the most consequential votes in the history of Congress. Are we going to stop another endless dumb foreign war? Or will the neoconservatives mislead us once again?” said Khanna on social media.
Polling has shown that a war or other military action against Iran is unpopular. In January, Quinnipiac found that only 18 percent of U.S. voters support taking military action against Iran if the government continued killing protesters. Shortly after last year’s strikes, 85 percent of people said in a YouGov poll that they opposed war with Iran.
Trump is demanding that Iran end all domestic uranium enrichment, seemingly making demands for a new nuclear deal despite having withdrawn from one during his first term in office.
It’s unclear what or whom the strikes would target. Though he has emphasized Iran’s uranium enrichment in recent remarks, just weeks ago he was threatening Iran over its violent repression of protesters. Further, the administration has maintained that the U.S. already “totally obliterated Iran’s nuclear facilities,” as White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday, during the Israeli and U.S. strikes last June that killed over 1,000 people.
“The president has always been very clear, though, with respect to Iran or any country around the world, diplomacy is always his first option, and Iran would be very wise to make a deal with President Trump and with this administration,” Leavitt said.
It is illegal under international law to use the threat of force for diplomatic ends.
On Tuesday, Vice President JD Vance said in an interview with Fox News after a round of indirect talks in Geneva that “it was very clear that the president has set some red lines that the Iranians are not yet willing to actually acknowledge and work through.”
Iran has threatened to retaliate if the U.S. launched unprovoked strikes by targetingU.S. warships. In a post on X on Tuesday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said: “The U.S. President keeps saying that they have the strongest military force in the world. The strongest military force in the world may at times be struck so hard that it cannot get up again.”
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