By Samia Nakhoul, Parisa Hafezi and John Irish DUBAI, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Iran and the United States are sliding rapidly towards military conflict as hopes fade for a diplomatic solution to their standoff over Tehran’s nuclear programme,

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Iran must make a "meaningful deal" in negotiations with Washington in the next 10 days or else "bad things happen", as he deployed warships, fighter

In Tehran’s view, this is not just about forcing Iran back into nuclear compliance; it is about permanently altering the strategic equation that allowed it to strike Israel directly for the first time and suffer minimal consequences.

By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (Reuters) - U.S. military planning on Iran has reached an advanced stage with options including targeting individuals as part of an attack and even pursuing regime change in Tehran,

President Donald Trump is weighing whether the United States should attack Iran, a country that controls both the third-largest proven oil reserves on Earth and one of the world’s most important oil shipping lanes.

TOKYO: Japan’s Nikkei share average fell on Friday as heightened US-Iran tensions and a sell-off in US private-equity shares dented sentiment. The Nikkei dipped 1.1 percent to close at 56,825.70, breaking a two-week rally to log a 0.2 percent weekly drop. The broader Topix sank 1.1 percent to 3,808.48, and edged down 0.3 percent for the week.

The talks come as the U.S. ramps up its military presence in the Middle East and Iran holds large-scale maritime exercises.

As the United States continues a significant military buildup in the Middle East, Iran has taken steps to signal its readiness for war, including fortifying its nuclear sites and rebuilding missile production facilities.

The movements of additional American warships and airplanes, with the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier near the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea, don’t guarantee a U.S. strike on Iran — but it bolsters Trump’s ability to carry out one should he choose to do so.

BBC Verify is tracking the latest US military aircraft deployments to the Middle East amid tensions with Iran We're also using ship-tracking to locate the US aircraft carrier Gerald R Ford after it was last seen off the coast of Morocco And we're checking reports that an Iranian fighter jet has crashed during an exercise in the west of the country We use open-source intelligence,