As the American naval armada and combat aircraft encircled the region, Iran performed military drills with Russia.
By Catholics for Catholics
As the tensions and the propensity for war escalates between Iran and the United States, Iranian forces held their annual military drills with Russia on Thursday.
Still, President Donald Trump said he wants to reach an agreement with Tehran. He believes 10 to 15 days is “enough time” for Iran to reach a deal, according to a story by Newsmax.
Nevertheless, the negotiations have been deadlocked for years, and Iran has declined to talk about U.S. and Israeli demands that it scale back its missile program and cut links to armed groups. Indirect talks held in recent weeks made little progress, and one or both sides could be buying time for final war groundworks.
Still, Iran’s theocracy and government is more susceptible than ever after 12 days of Israeli and U.S. strikes on its nuclear sites and military last year, as well as mass protests in January that were violently quashed. But it is still adept at striking Israel and U.S. bases in the region and has cautioned that any attack would provoke a regional war.
Meanwhile, Iranian forces and Russian sailors performed the yearly drills in the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean aimed at “upgrading operational coordination as well as exchange of military experiences,” Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency reported.
🚨Trump warns Iran
— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) February 19, 2026
“They must make a deal or, if that doesn’t happen… BAD THINGS WILL HAPPEN"
“If they join us, great. If not, that’s great too. But it’ll be a VERY different path. They can NOT continue to threaten the stability of the entire region"pic.twitter.com/5drdNXD6Qt
Iran later released footage in which it showed members of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard’s naval special forces boarding a vessel in the exercise. Those forces are believed to have been used in the past to seize vessels in key international waterways.
Also, Iran issued a rocket-fire warning to pilots in the region, suggesting it planned to launch anti-ship missiles in the exercise.
Earlier this week Iran launched a drill that involved live fire in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow opening of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of the world’s traded oil passes.
“This week, another 50 U.S. combat aircraft — F-35s, F-22s, and F-16s — were ordered to the region, supplementing the hundreds deployed to bases in the Arab Gulf states,” the New York-based Soufan Center think tank wrote. “The deployments reinforce Trump’s threat — restated on a nearly daily basis — to proceed with a major air and missile campaign on the regime if talks fail.”
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