Joe Funderburke
Less than nine months after the United States and Israel conducted joint strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities during Operation Midnight Hammer and Operation Rising Lion, both nations are again assembling substantial military force in the Middle East. As of February 2026, a dual-carrier strike group deployment is underway, F-22 Raptors are transiting to forward bases, and Western intelligence sources describe a posture that goes far beyond deterrence. This article examines the military buildup, analyzes the national interests and political calculus driving it, explores the strategic objectives of both Washington and Jerusalem, and assesses the consequences of success or failure across four critical domains: American domestic politics, the international world order, global oil markets, and regional stability. The situation validates the central thesis of this author’s prior work: that strategic restraint at the top of the escalation ladder does not produce peace, it produces more small wars.
The Buildup: What the Reporting Shows
The current U.S. military posture in the Middle East is not a routine rotation. It is an orchestrated escalation, confirmed across multiple credible reporting streams and corroborated by open-source intelligence tracking.
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