Trump Sends Second Carrier to Middle East to Pressure Iran
Trump Sends Second Carrier to Middle East to Pressure Iran
The USS Gerald R. Ford heads to the Middle East to join the USS Abraham Lincoln, boosting US military firepower as talks on Iran's nuclear and ballistic programs continue.
Donald Trump has ordered the world’s largest aircraft carrier to sail from the Caribbean Sea to the Middle East in an effort to increase pressure on Iran amid discussions over curbing its nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. The USS Gerald R Ford and its supporting warships should take about three weeks to return to the region, where they will join the USS Abraham Lincoln, dramatically increasing the military firepower available to the US leader. On Tuesday, Trump said in an interview with Axios that he was “thinking” about sending a second carrier strike group to the Middle East, though at that point he said he believed Tehran was willing to strike a nuclear deal.
The US and Iran held a round of indirect negotiations in Oman last week, and further discussions were expected to follow, but so far no date has been scheduled. Reports began circulating in US media on Thursday that the Ford was the carrier that had been nominated to set sail, a day after Trump met Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in Washington to discuss the emerging negotiations with Iran. Iran has indicated it is willing to curb its nuclear enrichment programme in return for sanctions relief, but has rejected other demands. Israel wants Iran to limit its ballistic missile programme and cut support for Hezbollah and other proxy groups.
Trump’s rhetoric about Iran has changed markedly over the past month. At first he appeared to suggest that he wanted to intervene – telling people protesting against the country’s regime that “help is coming.” But at the time the US had few military assets available. That changed with the arrival of the Lincoln carrier strike group, but by then the Iranian regime had largely regained control of the streets by killing thousands of people, and possibly tens of thousands, in the most brutal crackdown in the country’s recent history. Meanwhile, the US president’s focus appeared to have moved to curbing Iran’s nuclear programme – already set back in a summer crisis with regional tensions rising further as talks grind on.
