The United States is sending a third aircraft carrier towards Iran as the conflict enters its eighth month, in a major military deployment intended to give President Donald Trump more options while diplomatic efforts continue.
The USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group left its base in San Diego on Sunday, followed the next day by the Makin Island Marine Expeditionary Force, carrying more than 2,000 Marines, according to a US official.
By the end of November, three aircraft carriers and two amphibious landing groups are expected to be positioned around Iran. The build-up includes additional air power, including F-35 fighter jets, and comes on top of about 50,000 US service members already stationed in the region.
The concentration of forces is designed to keep military action available to Mr Trump, regardless of the outcome of diplomatic discussions. Pentagon and White House sources said no assets would be withdrawn even if an agreement with Tehran were reached.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has said US forces are “ready to go” if the president orders further strikes. Mr Trump has also maintained the threat publicly, telling Fox News that he believed the US was “going to win the war” with Iran “very soon”.
He has separately said a return to military action “is possible”, while indicating that he would prefer not to detail his intentions before November’s midterm elections.
Washington has reinforced the military deployment with economic measures, imposing sanctions this week on Iranian rail and automotive conglomerates. The Treasury Department said the action was intended to reduce what remained of Tehran’s revenue.
Diplomatic efforts continue alongside military build-up
Iran has proposed a seven-day plan, conveyed through Qatar, under which it would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume nuclear negotiations. In return, Tehran is seeking an end to the US naval blockade, sanctions relief and a regional ceasefire covering Lebanon and Yemen.
Mr Trump rejected the proposal. US ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz said demands involving frozen funds and sanctions relief were not negotiable, arguing that the measures were not solely American and referring to seven UN Security Council resolutions concerning Iran’s nuclear weapons programme.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has given mixed signals, saying Tehran was “fully prepared” to resume the war before writing on X: “we did not come to New York to sell a war. We came to forge peace.”
Analysts said the opposing messages reflected a dispute over which side would surrender its main leverage first. Abas Aslani of the Center for Middle East Strategic Studies said the question had shifted from whether to negotiate to “who is going to abandon the primary leverage first”.
Former US ambassador Richard Schmierer said Mr Trump faced a choice between delaying action beyond the midterms and facing criticism for making concessions similar to those in a June deal.
An AP-NORC poll found that nearly 70 per cent of Americans now believe the war has not been worth fighting. Mr Trump has dismissed the decline in his approval ratings, saying: “the pollsters are corrupt”.
