Blockade of Iranian ports again? US diverts aircraft carriers USS Abraham Lincoln, USS George HW Bush, report says | Today’s news
The United States is reportedly diverting an armada of warships — including two aircraft carriers — to Iran as President Trump threatens to renew the blockade of Iranian ports.
According to the New York Post , naval trackers spotted the aircraft carriers — the USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS George HW Bush — entering the Gulf of Oman on Friday.
Aircraft carriers have been spotted within range of Iranian missiles, raising their risk level, according to monitors.
An army of warships
US Central Command (CENTCOM) shared a video late on Friday X (local time), saying: “US sailors conduct night flight operations aboard the USS George HW Bush (CVN 77) as the aircraft carrier sails in regional waters.”
On July 8, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said: “Today, more than 20 US Navy warships are patrolling waters across the Middle East as CENTCOM forces continue to support regional security and stability.”
“Last month, U.S. naval warships and aircraft sailed through the Arabian Sea in close formation, demonstrating unmatched U.S. military might and firepower,” CENTCOM wrote on X.
Blockade of Iranian ports again?
Military planning experts believed the deployment would be necessary to restore the blockade of Iranian ports that had crippled Iran’s economy.
“I think the forces are moving in and out, but generally as we prepare the ships to blockade and support the strait passages, the ships will move closer to the Iranian threat,” former Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told The Post.
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A memorandum of understanding signed between the US and Iran, which set a 60-day framework for ending the months-long war, proposed lifting the US naval blockade of Iranian ports.
The text of the memorandum reads: “Immediately upon the signing of this memorandum, the United States of America will begin to remove its naval blockade and any unrest or obstruction against the Islamic Republic of Iran and will completely end the naval blockade within 30 days.
However, after Iran’s alleged attack on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, US President Donald Trump declared that the ceasefire agreement with Iran was “over”. He then described further negotiations with Tehran as a “waste of time” following a fresh escalation of tensions.
Trump later said the US would continue negotiations with Iran.
Renewed attacks
The development comes as the US renewed its strikes on Iran after President Donald Trump said recent Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz signaled the end of the ceasefire. After that, more strikes were carried out all over Iran.
“At the direction of the Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Central Command forces have launched additional strikes against Iran to further reduce its ability to threaten freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. The United States holds Iran accountable for recent unwarranted aggression against commercial shipping and civilian crews navigating freely through a vital international waterway,” U.S. Central Command said on July 9.
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It was previously reported that the force of 19 ships deployed around Iran’s waters is huge.
According to the Associated Press, it includes two aircraft carriers — the USS Lincoln and the USS George HW Bush — as well as an amphibious assault ship with more than 1,000 Marines, 14 destroyers, a cruiser and an expeditionary naval base.
Three nuclear-powered aircraft carriers were reportedly deployed by the US to the Middle East earlier this year to enforce a naval blockade amid ongoing tensions with Iran.
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The US military confirmed the arrival of the aircraft carrier USS George HW Bush in the Middle East on April 24. Bush was sailing “in the Indian Ocean in the US Central Command area of responsibility, April 23,” the military command responsible for the Middle East said in a post on X, which included a picture of a carrier with a deck full of warplanes.
A second carrier — the USS Gerald R. Ford — was operating in the Red Sea at the time, while a third — the USS Abraham Lincoln — was also in the region, according to CENTCOM social media posts.
The deployment of the third aircraft carrier to the Middle East comes during a more than two-week ceasefire that has suspended a devastating US-Israeli air campaign against Iran that began in late February.
