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