The U.S. military has deployed additional assets to the Middle East as tensions with Iran escalate, with two Patriot missile batteries recently sent to Saudi Arabia and Qatar to protect key oil and gas facilities, according to Axios .
The USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier, flagship of Carrier Strike Group 9, departed San Diego on Sunday and is expected to arrive in the region around mid-November, joining the USS George H.W. Bush and USS George Washington already operating under U.S. Central Command . A U.S. official said the deployment could bring the total number of carrier strike groups in the region to three, a concentration last seen in April .
The Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group, including three amphibious ships carrying thousands of Marines from the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, left for the Middle East on Monday and is expected to arrive by the end of November . The deployments follow a month-long wave of Houthi attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure, including Aramco facilities .
President Donald Trump told Time magazine that renewed major combat operations against Iran are “possible” after the midterm elections, while rejecting Iran’s latest ceasefire proposal as insufficient . U.S. officials said the Patriot deployments aim to reassure Gulf allies that their energy sites will be defended if strikes resume .
