Washington deploys a third aircraft carrier in the Gulf as a tanker burns in Hormuz

The Pentagon is substantially strengthening its military presence in the Middle East. According to a U.S. official cited by Al Jazeera, the United States is deploying the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and the Makin Island amphibious assault group, which includes roughly 2,200 Marines, toward the Gulf area. The same official reported that three aircraft carriers and two amphibious groups are positioning themselves around Iran, with full deployment expected by November.

A Pentagon source cited by the press, carried by the Japan Times, confirms the overall picture: the United States already has approximately 50,000 troops stationed in the region. U.S. President Donald Trump has reiterated that he has no intention of sending ground troops into Iran. Asked about the details of the naval deployment, a spokesperson for the U.S. Central Command responded in general terms:

“we do not discuss unit schedules for operational security reasons” (transl. from English) — CENTCOM spokesperson, U.S. Central Command

The military buildup comes as reports of incidents in the waters of the Strait of Hormuz multiply, a crucial chokepoint for the transport of crude oil to Asian and European markets. According to the Iranian state news agency Fars, a tanker carrying 2.5 million barrels was struck and caught fire while transiting roughly 8 kilometers from the coast of Oman. Fars claims the vessel was traveling “illegally” through the strait, but Iranian media do not indicate either who carried out the attack or the flag of the tanker involved.

On this episode, the news currently comes from a single source (Fars, the Iranian state news agency); no independent confirmation is currently available, either regarding the dynamics of the attack or the identity of the vessel struck.

The two threads — the military deployment announced by the Pentagon and the tanker fire reported by Fars — remain separate in the available sources: none of the documents consulted establishes a direct causal link between the two events, and this newspaper does not assume one. What is confirmed by U.S. sources is the scale of the troop movement: three carrier groups and two amphibious groups set to converge in the area by November, in addition to the 50,000 troops already present in the region according to the Pentagon source.

It remains to be verified in the coming days whether the announced deployment will be confirmed by observable movements of naval units, and whether third-party sources — other than the Iranian state source — will emerge regarding the episode in the Strait of Hormuz.