President Donald Trump says Iran's leaders "either sign a very fair agreement or they will cease to exist," according to the Fox News broadcast of his remarks.
The threat follows Trump saying it was possible he would resume bombing Iran after the November midterm elections.
Then came the hardware. US officials told Fox News the United States will send a third aircraft carrier and an additional Marine Corps unit to the Middle East. That adds approximately 10,000 sailors and Marines to the region. The host asked retired Gen. Jack Keane, Fox News' top strategic analyst, about the carrier Theodore Roosevelt heading there.
Keane's read is commentary, not official confirmation. He said the US and Israel always expected Iran to escalate before Israel's October elections and the US elections in November. He also said Trump has "never taken it off" the table: a return to major combat operations. Keane stressed these would be joint US-Israeli operations.
His forecast: a shorter campaign, but an attack that would be:
much larger than anything we have seen before
Keane said US intelligence is tracking everything the Iranians do, and has been since the April 7 ceasefire. He also said he assumes the CIA and Mossad are working full-time to undermine and dismantle the regime. That is Keane's own assumption, an extraordinary and unverified claim with no independent corroboration in this segment.
The host also raised a 25-page letter from Iran to the American people. The host characterized it as asking Americans to vote for Democrats and as seeking to overthrow Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Keane said Iran wants the opposition party to take control of Congress and stop the war. He said Tehran is escalating to convince voters the war is badly managed. He said the war is not badly run, and that he believes Iran will not succeed.
On the Strait of Hormuz, the host cited a Wall Street Journal editorial headlined "The Battle of Hormuz is turning." Keane argued the US military has shown it can get ships through the strait. He credited shipowners' and captains' confidence in that protection for the traffic numbers. He acknowledged Iran still launches drones and occasionally fires a missile.
So you have a presidential ultimatum, a carrier group in motion, and a Fox analyst describing a bigger strike. Nobody in this segment mentions a deadline for Iran to sign.
The one date on the calendar is Trump's own: he said bombing could resume after the November midterms.