The US is deploying additional carriers and thousands of Marines toward Iran. A supertanker was hit in the Strait of Hormuz.
The United States is deploying additional aircraft carriers, amphibious warships and roughly 2,000 Marines toward the Middle East, a U.S. official told Al Jazeera, as the Pentagon continues building up forces around Iran seven months into the war. The official said the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group and the USS Makin Island amphibious force departed San Diego this week, with the broader military buildup expected to be completed by November.
The deployment adds to a significant American military presence already in the region. The Pentagon dispatched roughly 2,200 to 2,500 Marines from the USS Boxer amphibious ready group and the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit earlier this week, marking the second major Marine deployment in recent days, following an earlier dispatch of the USS Tripoli and the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit from Japan. Including these latest movements, the U.S. currently has roughly 50,000 troops stationed across the Middle East, with officials saying additional deployments remain under consideration. President Donald Trump has said he does not plan to send ground troops into Iran, even as the naval and air buildup continues.
Britain’s Maritime Trade Operations center reported that a supertanker carrying an estimated 2.5 million barrels of oil was struck by an unidentified projectile while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, causing a fire aboard the vessel. The strait, a critical global oil chokepoint, has seen sharply reduced shipping traffic since the war began, and Marine forces could be used to help protect commercial vessels or support operations near Iran’s Kharg Island oil export hub, according to officials. Defense officials are also weighing a supplemental funding request of roughly $200 billion to sustain military operations in the region.
The buildup comes as Trump has continued to publicly threaten further escalation against Iran while Iranian officials say they are reviewing a U.S. response to Tehran’s proposal for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Neither government has announced a resolution to the dispute.
This report is based on information from Al Jazeera, The Hill, Boston 25 News and Barchart