US Sends Third Aircraft Carrier to Middle East Amid War with Iran

The United States sent a third aircraft carrier to the Middle East as the war with Iran enters its eighth month. The USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group departed San Diego on Sunday, according to a US official, and the USS Makin Island amphibious ready group set sail a day later. According to that official, the move could leave the United States with three aircraft carriers and two amphibious ready groups around Iran by the end of November.

The Theodore Roosevelt carries roughly 5,000 sailors and Marines, with additional personnel aboard the other vessels in its strike group, while the Makin Island amphibious ready group includes an amphibious assault ship, aircraft and about 2,200 Marines. Combined, the two groups total more than 7,000 sailors and 2,000 Marines, and a US official noted that the Roosevelt's deployment could add up to 10,000 additional troops to the region, although the carrier's final destination has not yet been decided.

Two other US aircraft carriers, the USS George H.W. Bush and the USS George Washington, are currently already in the area, along with the USS Boxer amphibious ready group, which is operating near the Strait of Hormuz. If the Roosevelt reaches its destination, the United States would once again have three carrier strike groups in the Middle East, something that already occurred in April, when for the first time since 2003 there were three aircraft carriers simultaneously in the region. One official estimated that all three carriers could be present as early as late October.

The deployment comes at a time when fighting between the United States and Iran has slowed, but negotiations to end the war are not advancing, with the Strait of Hormuz remaining one of the main sticking points. Iran offered to reopen the strait as part of a seven-day plan that also envisioned resuming nuclear talks, sanctions relief and a regional ceasefire that would include Lebanon and Yemen, but President Donald Trump rejected the proposal as insufficient, as he stated in an interview published by Time magazine.

At the same time, shipping traffic around the Strait of Hormuz is going through its most intense period of attacks since the war between the United States and Iran began on February 28, with four tankers attacked and another directly threatened, according to incidents reported by UK Maritime Trade Operations. One of the most alarming episodes involved a drone that entered through a vessel's funnel and fell into the engine room, causing a small fire and a temporary power outage. Despite the escalation in attacks, crude oil flows through Hormuz rebounded strongly and on several days exceeded pre-war levels, which according to shipbroker BRS Shipbrokers is sustaining extraordinary freight and risk premiums, with round-trip voyages that some shipowners are charging up to $40 million for.