Soon on the heels of Netanyahu's meeting with President Trump at the White House this week, the US has quietly ordered itsUSS Gerald R. Ford,the world’s largest aircraft carrier, to depart the Caribbean Sea and head to the Middle East, at a moment the White House is weighing possible military action against Iran, NY Times and others are reporting.
The redeployment will give Washingtontwo carrier strike groupsin the region, stacking additional warships alongside the already-deployed USS Abraham Lincoln as Trump turns up the pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program as well as ballistic missile arsenal. It'sexpected to take at least two weeks or morefor the Ford to reach its destination off Iran.
Trump had openly discussed the idea of sending a second carrier strike group to the region earlier this week, a clear escalation as indirect US-Iran talks in Oman sputter with no breakthrough, but he's all the while expressed hope that he wouldn't have to use them.
"The ship’s crew was informed of the decision on Thursday, according to four U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the decision,"NY Timesreports.
Previously, the Ford had been operating in the Caribbean after its abrupt redeployment from the Mediterranean, aspart of the earlier show of force tied to Venezuelan operations- making its rapid retasking toward Iran a stark reversal of routine scheduling for one of America's 11 total carriers available globally.
The Ford’s warplanes participated in the Jan. 3 attack on Caracas that captured President Nicolás Maduro. The strike group’s current deployment has already been extended once, and its sailors were expecting to come home in early March.
The new delay willfurther jeopardize the Ford’s scheduled dry dock period in Virginia, wheremajor upgrades and repairs have been planned.
Trump has warned Tehran that failure to cut a deal would be "very traumatic" even as US diplomacy clings to the possibility of a quick agreement.
Trump took the opportunity to repeat a US ultimatum to Tehran early this week: "Either we will make a deal or we will have to do something very tough like last time," he told Axios to kick off the week. The Iranians will no doubt have this ringing in their ears headed into a planned second round of talks next week.
The USS Abraham Lincoln and its strike group currently there, just south of Iran, involves dozens of fighter jets, Tomahawk missiles, along with several support warships.
Source: ZeroHedge News
