The Pentagon is sending a second aircraft carrier group – the USS Gerald Ford – to the Middle East, according to a senior administration official and a source familiar with the matter, a move that puts pressure on Iran even as President Donald Trump has said talks with Tehran will continue.

The president has been steadily building up U.S. military forces in the Middle East and threatening another strike on the country if the government does not abandon its nuclear ambitions.

The U.S. military is preparing for the possibility of sustained, weeks-long military operations against Iran if President Donald Trump authorizes an attack, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the planning.

US President Donald Trump warned that Iran’s supreme leader should be “very worried,” as both sides prepare for their first formal negotiations since the United States bombed Tehran’s nuclear program last year.