Signs of potential major escalation, or the next round at least (which Trump has hinted will come after the midterm elections), just hit The Wall Street Journal, and sent oil prices soaring. A quick summary:
- The Pentagon is sending a third aircraft-carrier strike group and additional Marine Corps ships to the Middle East, adding 9,000 to 10,000 more troops to the region.
- The ships, jet fighters, Marines and sailors will arrive in the region by the end of November, as President Trump considers renewing strikes on Iran after the midterm elections.
- The additional servicemembers will add to the more than 50,000 troops already in the region, with the deployments coming after Trump rejected Iran's latest proposal for a seven-day ceasefire.
The Trump administration is deploying a third aircraft carrier to the Middle East along with additional Marines, an American official also told Israeli media on Thursday. And later, in the afternoon, Trump posted a new Truth Social message as follows:
The USS Theodore Roosevelt is en route to US Central Command's (CENTCOM) area of operations after having just left San Diego this week. It is expected to relieve the Japan-based USS Ge
