President Donald Trump has ordered the world’s largest aircraft carrier to the Middle East as pressure mounts on Iran to reach a nuclear deal.
The USS Gerald R. Ford will join the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group already stationed in the region, according to an announcement made Friday. This deployment marks a significant increase in U.S. military presence as tensions with Iran continue to escalate.
“In case we don’t make a deal, we’ll need it,” President Trump told reporters as he departed the White House for Fort Bragg in North Carolina. “It’ll be leaving very soon.”
The Ford’s deployment comes just days after President Trump suggested another round of talks with Iranian officials was imminent. Those negotiations failed to materialize despite diplomatic efforts in Oman and Qatar this week, where Iranian security officials exchanged messages with U.S. intermediaries.
This marks a quick turnaround for the Ford, which has been deployed since June 2025 and was recently stationed in the Caribbean as part of the military buildup that led to the capture of then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro last month. The carrier’s crew will have been at sea for eight months by the end of February, an unusually long deployment.
The decision appears to contradict the Trump administration’s stated national security strategy, which emphasizes the Western Hemisphere over other regions. In response to questions about this shift, U.S. Southern Command spokesperson Col. Emanuel Ortiz stated that American forces in Latin America will continue to “counter illicit activities and malign actors in the Western Hemisphere” despite the change in force posture.
Military tensions in the region have already led to confrontations. U.S. forces recently shot down an Iranian drone that approached the Lincoln carrier group, and Iran attempted to stop a U.S.-flagged ship in the Strait of Hormuz on the same day.
President Trump has warned Iran that failure to reach a nuclear deal would be “very traumatic” and suggested an agreement should be reached within the next month. “It should happen quickly. They should agree very quickly,” he said Thursday.
The deployment comes as Iran faces internal pressure following a bloody crackdown on nationwide protests last month. Families of those killed are beginning traditional 40-day mourning ceremonies, with videos showing gatherings across the country.
Gulf Arab nations have expressed concern that any military confrontation could trigger another regional conflict in a Middle East still dealing with the aftermath of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
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