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Will US attack Iran? Poland tells citizens to leave immediatelyPolish citizens in Iran should leave immediately, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Thursday citing the potential for armed conflict. Evacuation may no longer be possible in a matter of hours, he reportedly added.By CNBCTV18.com February 19, 2026, 4:07:19 PM IST (Updated)3 Min Read"Please leave Iran immediately... and do not go to this country under any circumstances," Donald Tusk, the Prime Minister of Poland, said on Thursday (February 19), hours after Axios reported that the US is likely to strike Iran 'very soon'.

Crude oil prices jumped to the highest level this year as the risk of an armed conflict in the Middle East increased.

"There is not much time, but we are working on something concrete," Rafael Mariano Grossi, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told Bloomberg Television on Thursday. "There are a couple of solutions the IAEA has proposed."

Escalating the standoff with the US, Iranian forces and Russian sailors conduct operations in the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean, Iran's state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) news agency reported.

Iran also issued a rocket-fire warning to pilots in the region, suggesting they planned to launch anti-ship missiles in the exercise, according to the Associated Press.

Meanwhile, the US moved two aircraft carriers and thousands of soldiers into the region. "Should Iran decide not to make a Deal, it may be necessary for the United States to use Diego Garcia, and the Airfield located in Fairford, in order to eradicate a potential attack by a highly unstable and dangerous Regime," Trump wrote on his Truth Social website, seeking to pressure the United Kingdom over its plans to settle the future of the Chagos Islands with Mauritius.

On the other hand, hectic diplomatic parleys are underway in Tehran. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian pushed for a faster implementation of the strategic treaty (signed in January 2025) with the visiting energy minister from Moscow.

On the other hand, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke with his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, according to IRNA.

A day earlier, Steffan Watkins, a researcher based in Canada and a member of the MATA, said he had also spotted support aircraft, including six of the military's early-warning E-3 aircraft, heading to a base in Saudi Arabia.

With the lure of a deal to end the crippling economic sanctions, the US has explicitly asked Iran to stop its uranium enrichment programme that could help the Central Asian country build its own nuclear weapon.

Iran has denied any plan to build nuclear weapons and has demanded that it be allowed to continue operating its power plants. The IAEA, which is the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, hasn't verified Iran's stockpile of weapons-grade uranium for more than eight months.

The latest threat of an open conflict comes seven months after the US bombers attacked Iranian nuclear facilities, amidst the latter's 12-day war with Israel.

Iran retaliated by striking Qatar's Al Udeid Air Base, which is used by US forces.

Since then, two rounds of indirect talks between the US and Iran have come to nought.

Now, dozens of USUS fighter jets, including F-35s, F-22s and F-16s, have left bases in the USUS and Europe in recent days to head to the Middle East, according to the Military Air Tracking Alliance, a team of about 30 open-source analysts that routinely analyses military and government flight activity, the AP reported.

Iran has also issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) indicating planned rocket launches across parts of southern Iran on Thursday, February 19, as per news agency Reuters.

: Iran repairs and fortifies nuclear sites amid US tensions, satellite images show.Continue Reading(Edited by : Sriram Iyer)First Published: Feb 19, 2026 4:04 PM ISTTagsIranMiddle EastUS iran deal