Trump's armada humbles Iran as Europe prepares for biggest ever demo for Iranian democracy.

15:09, Sat, Feb 7, 2026 Updated: 15:10, Sat, Feb 7, 2026

U.S Navy Aircraft Carrier USS Abraham Lincoln Return From Middle East

Presidential power: USS Abraham Lincoln (Image: Getty)

As Donald Trump's fearsome armada of military hardware stood off the coast of Iran today on the eve of make-or-break US-Iran talks, more than 100,000 campaigners were set to descend on Berlin to beg the world not to look away as they demand regime change from within.

The force Trump has assembled is truly fearsome. The USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group is in position in the Arabian Sea and is loaded with more than 70 aircraft including stealth F-35s, multi-role F-18s, early warning jets, and transport and search and rescue helicopters

It is also protected by three guided missile destroyers each capable of launching strikes deep into Iran while simultaneously protecting the Lincoln.

A squadron of long range F15s has arrived in Jordan – also able to strike targets deep in Iran and air defence missiles and batteries have been sent to Gulf countries and to Israel

All this is in addition to the five US Air Force Expeditionary Wings, already based in Kuwait, UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar - typically these count around 100 aircraft.

And the US Fifth Fleet is also based in nearby Bahrain.

Ahead of US-Iranian talks due to take place in Oman on Friday Ayatollah warned President Trump that Iranian military hardware had been restocked after joint US-Israeli attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities. But the fact remains not one American or Israeli aircraft was shot down in Operation Midnight Hammer last June

Iran has 250-300 combat jets, but a huge number are ageing cold war era planes F-14 Tomcats and MIG-29s which are no match for American “fifth generation” fighters and bombers.

The nervously-anticipated talks are to be marked with one of Europe’s biggest ever demonstrations in support of the Iranian democracy campaigners. As many as 12,000 Iranians are believed to have been killed by security forces after two weeks of street protests against the hated dictatorship of the mullahs.

But the 100,000 protesters are expected to flood the streets near the Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate on Saturday in a massive show of solidarity with the Iranian people are adamant regime change must come from Iran's streets, not from an external power.

The German Solidarity Committee for a Free Iran (DSFI), a group of German politicians who support a free Iran announced that the rally will take place at Platz des 18. März, starting at 1:30 p.m. The timing is no accident.

The demonstration is on the occasion of the anniversary of Iran’s 1979 anti-monarchical revolution — a moment that many Iranians now see as having been hijacked by decades of clerical dictatorship.

Organizers say the rally is aimed squarely at backing Iran’s nationwide uprising, which was been met with brutal repression by the ruling mullahs. Protesters, say the organisers, are expected to send a clear and uncompromising message: Iranians reject both religious tyranny and a return to monarchy — and they want real democratic change.

Support for the Berlin rally is vast and international. According to DSFI, 344 organizations and political figures are backing the event, including parliamentary friendship groups for Iran, trade unions, and civil society organizations from across Europe. In addition, 312 Iranian associations based in Europe have pledged their support, underlining the strength of the Iranian diaspora’s involvement.

The rally’s core demand, say the DSFI, is that the Ayatollah’s regime in Tehran must go. Speakers are expected to stress that while Iran’s rulers have been weakened by years of protests, internal divisions, and international pressure, they will not fall without decisive action by the Iranian people themselves.

The organisers are keen to draw a line against foreign military intervention. “Bombs will not bring democracy,” one organizer said ahead of the rally. Instead, they argue that freedom can only come through organized resistance inside Iran, where activists and underground networks continue to confront the regime’s feared Revolutionary Guards — often at the cost of their own lives.

Saturday’s demonstration will also carry a strong emotional note. The late Prof. Dr. Rita Süssmuth, former President of the German Bundestag and Honorary Chair of DSFI, had been an early and passionate supporter of the rally and had planned to attend in person before her death.

In one of her final public statements on Iran, Süssmuth praised the courage of protesters risking everything for change. “Courageous women and men in Iran deserve our full support,” she said. “Their resistance is legitimate and necessary against a regime that allows no reforms at all.” She also pointed to the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a coalition opposing all forms of dictatorship, as a democratic alternative deserving serious attention from Europe. She had repeatedly met with Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the NCRI and had a close relation with her and had admired her 10-point plan forn the future of Iran.

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Demonstrators are expected to include Iranians, Germans, and other European citizens, united by calls for a free, democratic, secular, and non-nuclear Iran. Flags, banners, and chants are likely to dominate the area around the iconic Brandenburg Gate, turning one of Europe’s most famous landmarks into a stage for defiance against repression.

For organizers, the rally is about more than one afternoon of protest. “This is about standing with people who have not given up, even when the price is prison, torture, or death,” a DSFI activist said. “Berlin will be their voice.”