USS Nimitz Carrier Group On Way To MidEast As Iran Reportedly Seeks De-Escalation With Israel

Update(1026ET): Below is Fox News’ chief national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin confirming a major breaking development:

CONFIRMED: The USS Nimitz aircraft carrier strike group is on its way to the Middle East from the South China Sea, a U.S. official tells Fox News. The Nimitz was previously scheduled to replace the USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group which has been deployed for several months, but is now heading to the Middle East ahead of schedule. The two will now be in the Middle East at the same time. The USS Nimitz is the oldest active aircraft carrier in the U.S. Navy, commissioned on May 3, 1975. Scheduled to be decommissioned in 2026, this is possibly its final sea voyage. This is a very significant symbolic deployment because it was deployed in 1980 and its helicopters that were part of the failed US effort known as Operation Eagle Claw to rescue the American hostages being held at the US Embassy in Tehran. The US has been in a shadow war against Iran ever since.

Soon after this reporting:

IRAN IS PREPARING FOR THE ‘LARGEST AND MOST INTENSE MISSILE ATTACK IN HISTORY ON ISRAELI SOIL’ -IRANIAN STATE MEDIA

This comes on the heels of reports that the US Embassy in Tel Aviv suffered “minor damage” from a nearby Iranian ballistic missile impact. And Reuters confirms:

US military has moved a large number of refueling tanker craft to Europe to give options to US President Trump…

WSJ this morning: Iran eager to negotiate with the US and Israel to end the war.

CNN this morning: Iran refuses to negotiate while under attack and until its retaliation against Israel is completed.

Disinformation is always a weapon of war: lets people believe what they want: pic.twitter.com/otpHfITbFe

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) June 16, 2025

This likely won’t end well, given the Times of Israel is now citing Israeli officials who say the operation is expected to last two to three weeks. “There’s a bank of military targets that we can complete prettying quickly.” Meanwhile Iranian reports are claiming that only some 5% of its offensive missile capacity has been used. Meanwhile:

IRAN’S REVOLUTIONARY GUARDS CALL ON TEL AVIV RESIDENTS TO EVACUATE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE -IRANIAN STATE MEDIA

If this is true, Israel will smell blood and double down.https://t.co/EUEewDstYm

— Mark Ames (@MarkAmesExiled) June 16, 2025

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Update(1008ET): Everything is suddenly exploding higher – also with gold and oil dropping – especially on the following WSJ breaking report which suggests (dubiously, we should add…) that the Iranians are ‘open’ to returning to the negotiating table with Trump officials, even as ballistic missiles rain down on Israel, and as much of the Islamic Republic – particularly oil depots – burn…

“In the midst of a ferocious Israeli air campaign, Tehran has told Arab officials they would be open to return to the negotiating table as long as the U.S. doesn’t join the attack, the officials said. They also passed messages to Israel saying it is in the interest of both sides to keep the violence contained,” per WSJ on Monday.

Oil prices tumbling on the breaking report…

S&P 2% from ATH…

Gold has been falling since before the missile war started late on Thursday…

WSJ continues, “Iran has been urgently signaling that it seeks an end to hostilities and resumption of talks over its nuclear programs, sending messages to Israel and the U.S. via Arab intermediaries, Middle Eastern and European officials said.”

This comes also amid reports that dozens of US Air Force tankers have in the last hours taken off from the United States and headed towards Europe, as also confirmed in Flightradar24 and Air Live. Is Trump ready to join the Israeli side militarily? The Iranians fear so, it appears.

Iran’s message is that “it is in the interest of both sides to keep the violence contained” – according to an urgeng diplomatic message passed along. But at this point it seems clear that Israel is going for full regime decapitation, given also that reports say the Israel Air Force has total aerial dominance over Western Iran and skies above Tehran at this point. If these reports of an Iranian olive branch are accurate, is it too-little-too-late?

* * *

After another day on the receiving end of an Israeli war of aggression that began Friday, Iran delivered a major counterpunch overnight, further demonstrating that Israel’s highly-touted Iron Dome defense system is vulnerable to Iran’s hypersonic missiles. Upon completing a deadly barrage aimed at targets in Tel Aviv, Haifa and elsewhere, Iran claimed it had employed a “new method” that put Israel’s multi-layered defense system in disarray to the point its various systems targeted each other.

⚡️🇮🇷🇮🇱JUST IN:

INCREDIBLY fast hypersonic missile from Iran making impact in Haifa, Israel. pic.twitter.com/kKFTVyzIet

— Suppressed News. (@SuppressedNws) June 16, 2025

As fire and rescue teams scrambled to respond to the damage, Times of Israel reported at least eight people had been killed and more than 90 injured in the early-Monday attack, bringing Israel’s running death toll to at least 24 with hundreds wounded. “The arrogant dictator of Tehran has become a scared murderer who fires at Israel’s civilian home front in order to deter the IDF from continuing to carry out attacks that are destroying his capabilities,” said Defense Minister Israel Katz, only to then promise that “residents of Tehran will pay the price, and soon.”

❗️Multiple dead from Iran strikes on Tel Aviv suburbs

Iran ballistic missile guts high-rise — unconfirmed footage pic.twitter.com/D2YgjQHGjo

— RT (@RT_com) June 16, 2025

Iran claimed it struck targets that included a power plant in Haifa that “was seen engulfed in flames,” an oil refinery complex in Bazan, a facility of the military technology company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems facility, as well as Ben Gurion Airport. The Cradle reports that other targets included Nevatim Air Base, an army camp in Galilee, and hits on power grid facilities that caused “widespread blackouts.” Projectiles also hit a residential high-rise building and at least another residential area. An Iranian defense official said the attack included missiles with 1.5-ton warheads, but noted Iran has even heavier warheads in its inventory.

❗️Iran fireballs Israel’s Haifa power plant — unconfirmed footage pic.twitter.com/rIzTO41Kzk

— RT (@RT_com) June 16, 2025

Citing a statement from the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, state media outlet PressTV reported that “the operation specifically targeted the Zionist regime’s command and control systems using advanced tactics and enhanced intelligence-tech capabilities.”

“As a result,” the IRGC said, “the enemy’s multilayered defense systems were thrown into disarray, to the point where their own air defense units began firing on each other.” One video making the rounds on social media appears to show an IDF missile interceptor blowing itself up, though the careful observer must contemplate the possibility that an unforced IDF error captured on video may have been opportunistically exploited to make an exaggerated claim:

IRGC: New methods were used in attack, causing Israeli systems to target each other

Follow: https://t.co/mLGcUTSA3Q pic.twitter.com/5gtKlGIcjU

— Press TV 🔻 (@PressTV) June 16, 2025

Dampening Israeli hopes that Iran may run out of missiles soon, Israeli National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi told Army Radio that Iran has “thousands of ballistic missiles” in its inventory, which the Times of Israel called “a higher figure than previously estimated.”

Iran has similarly made repeated claims that it hasn’t used its full resources yet. “We are still exercising restraint and have not deployed all our capabilities to avoid global chaos,” IRGC chief Major General Mohsen Rezaei told Iranian state media. “However, we may reach a point where we use new weapons.” While reiterating Iran’s claim that it doesn’t seek to acquire a nuclear weapon — a claim re-certified as valid by the US intelligence community as recently as March of this year — he hinted that Iran’s stance on nuclear weapon development could change, saying “the future cannot be predicted with precision.”

Israelis scream as Iran’s ballistic missile blacks out Tel Aviv suburb building pic.twitter.com/nyIgp9bCQe

— RT (@RT_com) June 16, 2025

A question is starting to loom large: How long can this Israeli society — which has for years gone almost entirely unscathed as its military unleashes utter devastation on lesser forces and civilian populations — withstand prolonged destruction from a well-equipped foe like Iran?