US sends 9,000 troops and third carrier to Middle East as Trump weighs new Iran strikes

The US is dispatching roughly 9,000 sailors and Marines aboard a flotilla of warships to the Middle East, a major naval buildup that could bring three American aircraft carriers to the region by late October or November as President Donald Trump warns that renewed strikes against Iran remain possible.

The move, confirmed by US officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations and reported by major US media outlets, marks one of the largest concentrations of US naval power in the Gulf and Arabian Sea since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

It comes as diplomatic efforts to end the eight-month-old US-Iran conflict have stalled, with Tehran and Washington trading accusations and threats even as both sides say they seek to avoid an all-out regional war.

The deployment centres on two main groups now en route from the Pacific: The USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group, which departed San Diego on Sept. 27 with its air wing, destroyers and the guided-missile cruiser USS Chosin.

The USS Makin Island amphibious readiness group, carrying about 2,000 Marines of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard the landing ships USS John P. Murtha and USS Anchorage, which sailed on Sept. 28.

Together, these formations carry more than 7,000 sailors and roughly 2,000 Marines, according to US officials.

Once they arrive — expected by the end of November — they will join the USS George H.W. Bush and USS George Washington, which are already operating in the Arabian Sea and adjacent waters with the USS Boxer amphibious group and several destroyers.

If all three carriers remain in theater at once, the Middle East would host three US carrier strike groups for the first time since April, before a fragile ceasefire collapsed and fighting resumed in late summer.

President Trump has repeatedly said he is keeping military options open.

In an interview published Wednesday, he described ramped-up bombing of Iranian targets as “possible” after the November midterm elections, as his administration struggles to find an exit strategy from a war that has drawn in regional proxies and threatened global oil shipments.

US officials told The Wall Street Journal that the reinforcements are meant to expand Washington’s military options should negotiations with Tehran fail.

Some aides have privately discussed the possibility of resuming strikes in November, after voters head to the polls, according to people familiar with internal discussions.

The White House did not immediately comment on the carrier movements beyond noting that the deployments had been planned as routine rotations.

But the overlap of multiple carriers and amphibious groups signals a deliberate surge in readiness, defense analysts said.