The Trump administration has extended the deployment of an aircraft carrier already at sea for nearly eight months, sending it and its escort ships to the Middle East as President Donald Trump pressures Iran to make a new nuclear deal, officials said Friday.
The USS Gerald R. Ford received the directive while sailing in the Caribbean Sea and is expected to make its way across the Atlantic Ocean in the coming days, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss military movements. Another person said the Ford’s crew, which includes about 4,200 sailors, had been notified of the change.
It was not immediately clear if the Ford’s accompanying warships would also be sent to the Middle East or if other destroyers and vessels would swap in to sail with the carrier.
The order arrives at a time of renewed tension between Washington and Tehran, as Trump has openly threatened to attack the country unless it complies with his demands and as diplomatic efforts aim to avert more violence.
It comes, too, despite the Navy’s top officer, Adm. Daryl Caudle, having publicly warned last month that the Ford and other vessels that compose its carrier strike group are in need of maintenance, saying there would be “some pushback” from him if an extension of the deployment — typically lasting about seven months to meet repair schedules — was sought. Any extension also would have an impact on the sailors and their families, he said.
“Let’s see if there’s something else I can do,” Caudle told a group of reporters during an event in Washington.
Spokespeople for the Pentagon and the Navy did not immediately address questions about how the ships’ maintenance needs would be met.
It appears the Pentagon found no better alternatives before deciding to send the Ford to the Middle East. Another aircraft carrier, the USS George H.W. Bush, was in the middle of an exercise this week and is not expected to be ready for an assignment for some time. Defense officials also discussed deploying a different carrier, the USS George Washington, but it returned to port in Yokosuka, Japan, in December after a six-month mission in the Pacific region.
The development was reported earlier by the New York Times.
The Ford departed from its home port in Virginia on June 24 along with the destroyers USS Bainbridge, USS Mahan and USS Winston S. Churchill.
They were dispatched to European waters, but the Trump administration diverted the carrier in October to the Caribbean as the president amplified efforts to pressure Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to step down. The Ford was later directly involved in the U.S. Special Operations raid that captured the Venezuelan leader.
The Ford is expected to join the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Middle East as the Trump administration masses firepower in the region.
Trump last month considered carrying out strikes on Iran but shifted course as defense officials raised concerns about how security in the region could deteriorate. The Pentagon has often sought to keep two carrier groups in the region at times of heightened tension with Iran, providing not just the dozens of fighter jets aboard but also the arsenal of missiles and air defense capabilities supplied by accompanying destroyers.
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