Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln and its carrier strike group to speed up its transit to the Middle East, as the United States prepares for a possible retaliatory strike by Iran against Israel following an assassination inside Tehran.
The Department of Defense announced the deployments on Sunday, Aug. 11, following a talk with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant. He also ordered the Ohio-class guided-missile submarine USS Georgia to the U.S. Central Command area of operations.
The carrier strike group was already set to head to the Middle East, but Austin ordered it to “ accelerate its transit to the Central Command area of responsibility.”
The orders come in the wake of Israel assassinating Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31. Iran has pledged to retaliate for the attack inside its capital. Meanwhile, alongside the now 10-month-long war in Gaza against Hamas, Israel has been carrying out attacks against the militant group Hezbollah inside Lebanon. In the last two weeks Israel has killed Hamas official Samer al-Hajj in southern Lebanon as well as a top Hezbollah commander, Fuad Shukr, in Beirut. The United States and partners in the Middle East are trying to get Israel and Hamas to negotiate, but the United States military has been sending additional forces to the region in anticipation of an Iranian attack.
The USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group will join the USS Theodore Roosevelt Strike Group, which was deployed to the Middle East earlier this summer to replace the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and its support ships. The USS Theodore Roosevelt was expected to leave the region, with the USS Abraham Lincoln replacing it, but the Pentagon’s announcement notes that the Lincoln will be “adding to the capabilities already provided by the USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group.”
Subscribe to Task & Purpose Today. Get the latest military news and culture in your inbox daily.
It’s unclear how quickly the USS Abraham Lincoln will be able to reach the Middle East. It recently was in the Pacific Ocean this past week, including carrying out a joint drill with the Italian Navy’s Cavour Carrier Strike Group. The Department of Defense did not give an indication of how much quicker the ships of the strike group could complete their transit.
The strike group is carrying Carrier Wing 9, which includes one squadron of Marine Corps F-35Cs as well as three Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet squadrons, among other aircraft.
This past week approximately a dozen U.S. Air Force F-22 fighter jets arrived in the Middle East to bolster American forces there. The jets came from their home at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska.
The submarine USS Georgia is already in the Mediterranean Sea, having been there for roughly a week conducting training with special operations forces and Force Reconnaissance Marines, per the U.S. Navy.
The Pentagon previously took part in a multinational operation in April to take out more than 300 missiles and one-way attack drones fired by Iran and its partners toward Israel. That attack was in retaliation to an Israeli strike on an Iranian diplomatic building in Damascus, Syria. Elements from the U.S. Navy and Air Force, as well as Army troops stationed in Iraq, carried out dozens of intercepts.
The latest on Task & Purpose
- Top U.S. special ops units held a major exercise off Alaska, 45 miles from Russia
- An Army officer is one of the stars of the U.S. women’s Olympic rugby team
- Army marksmanship instructor wins Olympic medal in rifle event
- Inside the recovery of MIA Americans from a secret jungle base
- Pentagon orders review of Medals of Honor given for Wounded Knee Massacre