The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and its escort ships will join the USS Abraham Lincoln and its strike group already positioned in the U.S. Central Command (Centcom) area.
The Gerald R. Ford is currently in the Caribbean but is being sent to the Middle East as the Trump administration beefs up its military presence near Iran, President Trump confirmed Friday.
The president told reporters he dispatched the warship “in case we don’t make a deal, we’ll need it.”
Centcom referred The Hill to the Pentagon, which declined to comment. The U.S. Navy referred The Hill to U.S. Southern Command (Southcom).
“While force posture evolves, our operational capability does not. SOUTHCOM forces remain fully ready to project power, defend themselves, and protect U.S. interests in the region,” a Southcom spokesperson said Friday in a statement to The Hill. “At the direction of the President and the Secretary of War, we continue mission-focused operations to counter illicit activities and malign actors in the Western Hemisphere.”
Earlier this week, Trump indicated that he was considering sending another aircraft carrier to the Middle East as he threatened to authorize strikes against Iran.
“We have an armada that is heading there and another one might be going,” the president said in a Tuesday interview with Axios.
Read the full report at thehill.com.
