The Pentagon is sending a third aircraft-carrier strike group and an additional Marine expeditionary unit to the Middle East, according to US officials, adding 9,000 to 10,000 more troops to the region as President Donald Trump considers renewing strikes on Iran after the midterm elections, The Wall Street Journal reported.
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, according to the newspaper.
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 US 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.
