The Pentagon is moving two of its warships from the Middle East to the Indo-Pacific after bolstering its forces in the former region in recent weeks amid threats by Iran and its proxies against Israel and U.S. forces.
American officials told the Associated Press in an article published on Thursday that the USS Theodore Roosevelt was leaving the Gulf of Oman, where it had been operating with the USS Abraham Lincoln, both San Diego-based aircraft carriers.
The Lincoln arrived in the Gulf of Oman around three weeks ago, where it is operating together with several other warships. Both the Lincoln and the Roosevelt are Carrier Strike Group (CSG) flagships.
Besides the Roosevelt, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has also ordered the departure from the Middle East of the USS Daniel Inouye destroyer, whose homeport is at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
The move comes after Austin last month ordered an extension of the Roosevelt‘s stay in the region amid tensions with Iran and its regional terror proxies.
The Roosevelt and Inouye are expected to arrive in the Indo-Pacific Command’s region on Thursday.
The USS Russell, another destroyer, had previously departed the Middle East region and has been operating in the South China Sea.
There are also several U.S. ships operating in the Eastern Mediterranean, while two destroyers and the guided missile submarine USS Georgia are currently stationed in the Red Sea. The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, the flagship for Commander, Carrier Strike Group (CCSG) 2, has also been sent to the Eastern Mediterranean and then the Red Sea over the course of the Israel-Hamas war, but is now back at its homeport in Norfolk, Virginia.
