Washington, D.C., 14 February (H.S.): President Donald Trump announced on Friday the redeployment of the USS Gerald R. Ford, the United States Navy's preeminent nuclear-powered supercarrier, from the Caribbean Sea to the Middle East, augmenting an already formidable armada amid escalating tensions with Iran over its nuclear ambitions and regional proxy aggressions.
This decisive maneuver, divulged to reporters at the White House, accompanies the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group—stationed regionally for over a fortnight—following U.S. interdiction of an Iranian drone proximate to the Lincoln and Tehran's aborted interdiction of a U.S.-flagged vessel in the Strait of Hormuz last week; Trump posited the augmentation as prudential contingency should nascent indirect parleys in Oman and Qatar, mediated post a top Iranian security envoy's shuttle, falter.
In case we don't make a deal, we'll need it, Trump averred, forecasting the Ford's imminent transit—likely spanning weeks given its Caribbean billet—yielding over 5,000 supplementary personnel, doubled airwings, and munitions stockpiles for operational commanders.
The Ford's expedition reprises its October 2025 Mediterranean-to-Caribbean repositioning antecedent to Operation Absolute Resolve, the January 3, 2026, raid extricating Venezuelan autocrat Nicolás Maduro, contravening Trump doctrinal primacy on hemispheric threats per national security stratagems; U.S. Southern Command affirmed sustained Latin American force projection sans attenuation.
Gulf allies cautioned prospective conflagration akin to the Israel-Hamas Gaza imbroglio, as Iran grapples domestic tumult: 40-day Chehelom mourning rites commencing Thursday for protest crackdown fatalities last month, evidenced by Razavi Khorasan videos intoning the pre-Revolution anthem Ey Iran.
Netanyahu, in Wednesday discourse, importuned missile restraint and proxy defunding (Hamas, Hezbollah) adjunct nuclear curbs; Tehran insists peaceful intent, proximate weapons-grade 60% uranium enrichment pre-June 2025 hostilities.
Trump's traumatic ultimatums echo June 2025 talks' collapse precipitating Israel's 12-day Iran war with U.S. nuclear site strikes, portending crew strain for the Ford—launched June 2025, confronting eight-month deployment versus normative six-to-seven—disrupting personal milestones and precipitating maintenance arrears, as Navy Chief Adm. Daryl Caudle lamented extensions' highly disruptive toll, invoking USS Dwight D. Eisenhower's protracted Yemen Houthi engagements.
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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar
