The United States is reportedly sending a third carrier strike group to the Middle East, along with an amphibious force carrying 2,000 Marines, raising the risk of an escalating conflict that could last for months.
The deployment comes after President Donald Trump signaled his intention to resume attacks on Iran after the November midterm elections.
The group from the USS Theodore Roosevelt and the Makin Island unit departed from San Diego, a US official told Al Jazeera. Separately, the Wall Street Journal reported that the full ramp-up is expected to be completed by November. The newspaper reported that President Trump recently told aides that he plans to resume airstrikes on Iran in the same month.
This situation continues as the war enters its eighth month and the stalemate continues. Indirect negotiations have stalled after the United States rejected Iran’s offer to reopen Hormuz Island in exchange for lifting the U.S. blockade, leaving oil prices above pre-war levels.
Yemen’s Saudi-led coalition on Thursday accused the Iranian-backed Houthis of a drone attack on the Medina power plant that supplies electricity to the Prophet’s Mosque.
Coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said the strike at the Taybah distribution station had knocked out one transformer, but the wider power grid remained intact. A Houthi military official told Sabah News Agency that the claim was a “lie” aimed at covering up Saudi Arabia’s failure to substantiate earlier accusations that the Houthis targeted the Islamic holy city of Mecca.
The U.S. Treasury on Thursday sanctioned Iran’s auto and rail sector, including the state-owned railway company and suppliers in the UAE, Hong Kong, Turkey and Indonesia. The A7 network, a Russia-linked financial channel that the Treasury Department says is used by Iran to evade sanctions, was also attacked.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent claimed in Thursday’s X Post that Iran loaded “zero crude oil” on tankers in September.
Separately, Britain’s Maritime Trade Services Agency said a tanker was hit by an unknown projectile in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, causing a fire, but the crew was reported to be safe.
The increased military presence comes as diplomatic efforts to end the war appear to remain stalled. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly ordered a delegation led by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi to leave New York earlier than scheduled after indirect negotiations mediated by Qatar failed to produce a breakthrough. The unusual diplomatic rebuke highlighted the mistrust between the two countries.
