The Pentagon is preparing to deploy a third aircraft carrier strike group and additional Marine Corps ships to the Middle East, adding an estimated 9,000 to 10,000 troops as President Donald Trump considers resuming strikes on Iran after the midterm elections, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
The ships, fighter jets, Marines and sailors are expected to arrive by the end of November, said officials, according to the newspaper.
The USS Theodore Roosevelt left San Diego on Sunday for a scheduled deployment. The USS Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group, carrying Marines from the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, departed Monday.
The USS George H.W. Bush and USS George Washington are already in the region. If the Washington group joins when the Roosevelt arrives, the US would have three carrier strike groups in the Middle East for the first time since April, before a fragile US-Iran ceasefire ended fighting that began Feb. 28.
The additional forces would join more than 50,000 US troops already in the region. The USS George Washington could, however, return to its home port in Japan, leaving two carrier groups in the area.
The deployments follow Trump's rejection of Iran's latest seven-day ceasefire proposal. In an interview with Time magazine that was published Thursday, Trump said he could resume strikes on Iran after the midterms if no agreement is reached.
The proposal called for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, through which about one-fifth of global oil supplies normally pass, and resuming negotiations on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of a US blockade of Iranian ports.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has also extended deployments of air-defense units and the Army's 82nd Airborne Division. The US has maintained about 20 Navy ships in the region to enforce the blockade and help escort commercial vessels through the strait.
The buildup comes as the US Navy faces supply shortages and near-record deployment demands. Iran has recently fired ballistic missiles at US warships, while senior navy officials have prepared the crew of the USS Theodore Roosevelt for an extended deployment.
