Pentagon prepares second aircraft carrier for Middle East deployment

The USS George H.W. Bush has been ordered to prepare for deployment and could soon head to the region.

By World Israel News Staff

The Pentagon has instructed a second aircraft carrier strike group to prepare for potential deployment to the Middle East as the U.S. military readies for possible action against Iran, according to three U.S. officials cited by The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.

According to the report, the USS George H.W. Bush has been ordered to prepare for deployment and could soon head to the region. If deployed, it would join the USS Abraham Lincoln, making it the second U.S. aircraft carrier operating in the Middle East.

The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group is currently deployed in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations and continues to operate in the Arabian Sea, south of Iran.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he is weighing sending a second carrier to the region if negotiations with Tehran collapse. “We have an armada that is heading there and another one might be going,” the president said in an interview with Axios.

The report noted that a formal deployment order could be issued quickly. One U.S. official told The Wall Street Journal that the order to deploy could come within hours.

The report comes just as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu concluded a roughly three-hour meeting with Trump at the White House focused on Iran, Gaza, and broader regional developments.

Following the talks, Trump wrote on Truth Social: “I have just finished meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu, of Israel, and various of his Representatives. It was a very good meeting, the tremendous relationship between our two Countries continues.”

The president clarified that “There was nothing definitive reached other than I insisted that negotiations with Iran continue to see whether or not a Deal can be consummated.”

“If it can,” Trump wrote, “I let the Prime Minister know that will be a preference. If it cannot, we will just have to see what the outcome will be.”

Referring to prior tensions, Trump added: “Last time Iran decided that they were better off not making a Deal, and they were hit with Midnight Hammer — That did not work well for them. Hopefully this time they will be more reasonable and responsible.”