U.S. orders second aircraft carrier to Middle East as Trump pressures Iran

The Trump administration has extended the deployment of an aircraft carrier already at sea for nearly eight months, sending it to the Middle East as President Donald Trump pressures Iran to make a new nuclear deal, officials said Friday.

The USS Gerald R. Ford received the directive while in the Caribbean Sea and is expected to make its way across the Atlantic Ocean in the coming days, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss military movements. Another person said the Ford’s crew, which includes about 4,200 sailors, had been notified of their change in assignment.

It was not immediately clear whether the Ford’s accompanying warships would also be sent to the Middle East or if other destroyers and vessels would swap in to escort the carrier.

Trump, speaking to reporters Friday, acknowledged that an aircraft carrier is “going out shortly” toward Iran, though he did not identify the vessel by name. Asked if he wants regime change in Tehran, he said that “would be the best thing that could happen,” citing Iran’s history of supporting terrorism in the region.

“For 47 years, they’ve been talking and talking and talking,” Trump said. “In the meantime, we’ve lost a lot of lives while they talk. Legs blown off, arms blown off, faces blown off. We’ve been going on for a long time. So, let’s see what happens.”

The order for the Ford to return arrives at a time of renewed tension between Washington and Tehran, as Trump has openly threatened to attack the country unless it complies with his demands and as diplomatic efforts aim to avert more violence. Mark Cancian, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the decision to extend the Ford’s deployment raises the stakes that the U.S. will strike.

“Once it gets over there, there’ll be a lot of pressure to use it,” Cancian said.

The order comes, too, despite the Navy’s top officer, Adm. Daryl Caudle, having publicly warned last month that the Ford and other vessels that compose its carrier strike group are in need of routine maintenance, saying there would be “some pushback” from him if an extension of the deployment - typically lasting about seven months to meet repair schedules - was sought. Any extension also would have an impact on the sailors and their families, he said.

“Let’s see if there’s something else I can do,” Caudle told a group of reporters during an event in Washington.

Spokespeople for the Pentagon and the Navy did not immediately address questions about how the ships’ maintenance needs would be met.

Although the Ford is the Navy’s newest and most advanced carrier, being deployed for eight months takes a toll on the ship’s systems, Cancian said. In-dock repair times are scheduled and coordinated months in advance around other ships in the fleet, so extending the deployment means not only that the Ford’s repairs will be delayed, but also that the repairs of all the other warships scheduled afterward will slip, he said.

It appears the Pentagon found no better alternatives before deciding to send the Ford to the Middle East. Another aircraft carrier, the USS George H.W. Bush, was still undergoing preparations for a deployment this week and was not expected to be ready for an assignment for some time. Defense officials also discussed deploying a different carrier, the USS George Washington, but it returned to port in Yokosuka, Japan, in December after a six-month mission in the Pacific region.

The development was reported earlier by the New York Times.

The Ford departed from its home port in Virginia on June 24 along with the destroyers USS Bainbridge, USS Mahan and USS Winston S. Churchill. They were dispatched to European waters, but the Trump administration diverted the carrier in October to the Caribbean as the president amplified efforts to pressure Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to step down. The Ford was later directly involved in the U.S. Special Operations raid that captured the Venezuelan leader.

As of Friday the Pentagon had 11 ships, including the Ford, assembled in and around the Caribbean, as the Trump administration continues to prioritize operations in the Western Hemisphere.

Two more warships, the destroyers USS Bulkeley and USS Roosevelt, have been in the eastern Mediterranean Sea in recent days, where they could assist Israel in defending against any counterattack by Iran if Trump decides to take military action.

Numerous other warships are in the Middle East, including in the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz. The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and three destroyers are in the Arabian Sea. They were diverted to the region from the South China Sea in recent weeks as Trump contemplated attacking Iran.

Trump last month considered carrying out strikes on Iran but shifted course as defense officials raised concerns about how security in the region could deteriorate. The Pentagon has often sought to keep two carrier groups in the region at times of heightened tension with Iran, providing not just the dozens of fighter jets aboard but also the arsenal of missiles and air defense capabilities supplied by accompanying destroyers.