US Sends Third Carrier to Middle East as Iran Strikes Loom

The United States is sending roughly 9,000 troops to the Middle East aboard a group of warships, a U.S. official said Thursday, as President Donald Trump warned that new strikes on Iran could be on the horizon. The deployment adds a third carrier to a U.S. fleet already stretched by a months-long campaign against Tehran, and it lands with midterm elections in the United States weeks away.

The group of ships now en route carries more than 7,000 sailors and 2,000 Marines, according to the Associated Press, which reported the story from a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations. A third carrier operating in the region would bring the total to three as early as the end of October.

A third carrier heads for a crowded sea

The deployment centers on the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group, which recently sailed with the cruiser USS Chosin, and the USS Makin Island amphibious readiness group, which includes the landing ships USS John P. Murtha and USS Anchorage. The Roosevelt is the third carrier now bound for the Middle East, joining the USS George H.W. Bush and the USS George Washington, which are already in the region along with the USS Boxer amphibious readiness group.

With a third carrier on the way, the U.S. naval presence would rise above 20,000 sailors and Marines, supported by hundreds of aircraft, according to the Associated Press. The Washington normally deploys to the Pacific but was shifted to the Middle East to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln, whose crew spent more than 260 days straight at sea.

The buildup is already moving oil markets. Brent crude rose 4.4 percent to close at $102.31 a barrel on Thursday, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures climbed 2.7 percent to $92.87 a barrel, according to Sofx, citing CNBC.

Trump points to strikes after the elections

In a Time magazine interview conducted Monday and published Thursday, Trump said it was "possible" that he would ramp up bombing in Iran after the Nov. 3 midterm elections in the United States. Pressed for detail about his strategy, he declined to specify targets, according to the Associated Press.

Trump also said in the interview that he rejected Iran's latest ceasefire proposal. He described the terms as no better than what he would have refused a year earlier, and he dismissed an Iranian offer to "open up" the Strait of Hormuz, the key energy shipping corridor, as "not good enough."

Asked whether an increasingly unpopular war could hurt Republican chances in November, Trump said it was possible, then added: "It should help, because Iran will not have a nuclear weapon." He said opposition to Iran acquiring nuclear weapons was nearly universal.

The FlyDubai attack raises the stakes

Trump told reporters Thursday that early indications suggested Iran was linked to the FlyDubai co-pilot who stabbed his captain and tried to crash an Israel-bound flight on Wednesday. Trump said the United States would retaliate if the link to Tehran was established, adding: "Oh, they'll be hit very hard, don't worry."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed in a Fox News interview earlier Thursday that investigators believed the FlyDubai suspect underwent "Islamist, radical indoctrination," but he did not provide further details, according to the Associated Press.

A war that is shifting shape

There is growing concern that Tehran may be turning to asymmetrical tactics, according to the Associated Press. A third carrier in the same theater is rare: the Navy's last three-carrier concentration in the region came in April, the first since 2003. The arrival of a third carrier would extend the pressure on Iran's oil exports, which a Navy blockade is already shutting down, even as U.S. forces loosen Tehran's grip over the Strait of Hormuz to get Gulf allies' oil to market.

British authorities announced Thursday the arrest of a 27-year-old dual U.K.-Iranian national in Central London on suspicion of plotting a terror attack, following a security incident at RAF Fairford, a U.S.-run air base in England that British authorities have linked to Tehran. The arrest followed the detention of five British nationals in their 20s near the base on Sunday on suspicion of explosives and terror offenses; those suspects have since been released on bail. The base has been used by American bombers to strike Iran. For more on how conflicts are escalating elsewhere, see our report on Ukraine's new ballistic missile.

Fuel is where this reaches daily life. Higher fuel costs feed into the price of food, transport, and flights. What began as a campaign Trump said would last a matter of weeks has become a protracted confrontation with no clear end date, and a third carrier underlines the direction of travel. Students in Tehran have also taken to the streets in recent weeks, as covered in our reporting on youth-led mobilizations. Read the full Associated Press reporting for the latest developments.