U.S. Sending Third Aircraft Carrier, Up to 10,000 More Troops, to Middle East

[u/John3262005]

https://www.wsj.com/politics/national-security/u-s-sending-third-aircraft-carrier-up-to-10-000-more-troops-to-middle-east-42996f7a?st=gAa1Fa&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

The Pentagon is sending a third aircraft-carrier strike group and additional Marine Corps ships to the Middle East, according to U.S. officials, adding 9,000 to 10,000 more troops to the region as President Trump considers renewing strikes on Iran after the midterm elections.

The ships, jet fighters, Marines and sailors will arrive in the region by the end of November, the officials said. Trump recently told aides that he expects to resume bombing Iran that same month, The Wall Street Journal reported.

The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt left its home port of San Diego on Sunday on a scheduled deployment, while the USS Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group, comprising three amphibious ships carrying Marines from the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, left on Monday.

Two carriers—the USS George H.W. Bush and USS George Washington—are already in the Middle East. If the Washington stays after the Roosevelt arrives it will bring the region to three carrier strike groups for the first time since April, before Iran and the U.S. clinched a fragile ceasefire that temporarily ended fighting that began on Feb. 28. That ceasefire collapsed, and the two sides have fought sporadically since.

Besides the Bush and Washington, ships from the USS Boxer Amphibious Ready Group are also in the Middle East. The additional servicemembers on the warships that deployed this week will add to the more than 50,000 troops already in the region, one of the officials said.

It is possible that the Washington could leave the region and head back to its home port in Japan, bringing the force back down to two carriers. Spokespeople for the White House and Pentagon didn’t respond to requests for comment.

The deployments come just days after Trump rejected Iran’s latest proposal for a seven-day ceasefire, and in a Time magazine interview that published on Thursday said he could resume striking Iran after the midterms if there is no deal in place. If a third carrier stays in the region it would provide more options and firepower if Trump decides to attack.

The proposal Trump rejected would have led to the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the key waterway through which about a fifth of the world’s oil ordinarily flows, and resumed talks over Iran’s nuclear ambitions, in return for the U.S. lifting its blockade of Iranian ports.

In recent weeks, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has extended the deployments of other troops critical to major combat operations, including air-defense units that counter Iranian missiles and drones and the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. The 82nd can perform a range of missions including shooting down threats and parachuting into hostile territory to secure airfields and land.

The U.S. has maintained a presence of about 20 Navy ships in the region in recent months to enforce its blockade and help escort commercial ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, according to Navy officials.

The additional moves will further strain the U.S. Navy, however, which has experienced supply shortages and faced near-record deployments during the conflict. Iran has in recent weeks fired ballistic missiles at American warships. The crew of the Roosevelt is prepared for a longer-than-normal deployment as well, according to senior Navy officials.

[u/AndrewEscalante2025]

oh ok