Pentagon deploys thousands more Marines, another aircraft carrier to Mideast
The Pentagon is sending the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit and sailors aboard the assault ship USS Makin Island to the Middle East, together with an additional aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, a US official confirmed to Al-Monitor. The Makin Island left Naval Base San Diego on Monday, one day after the Roosevelt was dispatched to cross the Pacific, and the Roosevelt will likely need two to three weeks to reach the Arabian Sea. The USS George Washington and the USS George H.W. Bush are already in Middle Eastern waters, backed by roughly 18 other surface warships enforcing a blockade of Iran's southern coast.
Why it matters: The deployment sustains the US military posture behind an open-ended economic pressure campaign and blockade of Iran, keeping conflict risk in the region elevated.