The United States is sending a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East as President Donald Trump weighs possible military action against Iran, according to a source cited by the Associated Press.
The world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, has been ordered to sail from the Caribbean Sea to the region. Its deployment will place two US carrier strike groups in the Middle East, increasing pressure on Tehran over its nuclear programme.
The move was first reported by The New York Times. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of military operations.
The USS Abraham Lincoln and three guided-missile destroyers arrived in the Middle East more than two weeks ago.
The decision marks a rapid shift for the USS Ford, which was sent to the Caribbean from the Mediterranean last October as part of a broader US military build-up ahead of operations linked to Venezuela. The new order also appears to run counter to Washington’s stated focus on the Western Hemisphere.
On Thursday, Trump warned that failure to reach a nuclear deal with Iran would be “very traumatic.” The US and Iran held indirect talks in Oman last week.
“I guess over the next month,” Trump said when asked about a possible timeline for an agreement. “It should happen quickly.”
Trump earlier told Axios that he was considering sending another carrier strike group to the region. He later met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has urged Washington to take a tougher stance on Tehran.
Netanyahu has called for Iran to curb its ballistic missile programme and end support for militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah as part of any deal. Trump said he told Netanyahu that diplomacy must continue.
“There was nothing definitive reached other than I insisted that negotiations with Iran continue,” Trump wrote after the meeting.
The USS Ford began its current deployment in late June 2025. If it remains in the Middle East for an extended period, its crew could face an unusually long deployment of more than eight months.
Trump also shared a Wall Street Journal article on his Truth Social account titled “Pentagon Prepares Second Aircraft Carrier to Deploy to the Middle East.” The report said the Pentagon had ordered preparations for another carrier strike group to join the USS Abraham Lincoln.
Iran has warned the US against allowing Israel to derail ongoing diplomacy. Iran’s security chief Ali Larijani told Al Jazeera that Tehran’s negotiations are “exclusively with the United States.”
The White House has not yet commented on the deployment.
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