NATO country and US ally Poland warned its citizens on Thursday to flee Iran immediately, with the prime minister saying the “possibility of conflict is very real”.
Donald Tusk’s comments come as the US has strengthened its military presence in the Middle East as tensions over Iran’s nuclear program escalate.
“Please leave Iran immediately and under no circumstances travel to this country,” Tusk said Thursday in the town of Zielonka, just outside Warsaw. Turkey’s Anadolu Agency. “I don’t want to worry anyone, but we all know what I’m talking about. The possibility of conflict is very real.”
“In a few, a dozen or several dozen hours, evacuation may no longer be possible,” Tusk added.
RUSSIA URGES IRAN AND ‘ALL PARTIES’ IN THE MIDDLE EAST TO SHOW STAND AGAINST US MILITARY CONSTRUCTION
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, center, followed by Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, watches an open test of unmanned weapons systems conducted by the Polish Armaments Group at the training ground of the Military Institute of Armament Technology in Zielonka, near Warsaw, Poland, Thursday, February 19, 2026. (Aleksander Kalka/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, and its strike group are moving from the Caribbean to the Middle East.
The move would place two aircraft carriers and their accompanying warships in the region.
The world’s largest aircraft carrier sails to the Middle East as nuclear tensions in Iran rise dramatically
The world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, in the North Sea during the NATO Neptune Strike 2025 exercise in September 2025. (Jonathan Klein/AFP via Getty Images)
The USS Abraham Lincoln and three guided missile destroyers arrived in the Middle East more than two weeks ago.
On Wednesday, US Central Command posted photos of F/A-18 Super Hornets landing on the decks of the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea.
F/A-18 Super Hornets from Strike Fighter Squadron 14 land on the deck of USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea in this image released Wednesday, February 18, by US Central Command. (US Central Command)
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“When launched from a catapult on an aircraft carrier, the Super Hornet can fly from a standstill to the sky in less than three seconds,” CENTCOM said.
