The US Navy’s newest and biggest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, is set be deployed to the Mediterranean, according to a report.
It’s the latest public movement of military hardware to the region as the Iran-Israel conflict ratchets up.
The USS Ford, America’s flagship 1,100-foot nuclear-powered carrier, is expected to be sent to Europe as soon as next week, making it the third US aircraft carrier group in the region, CNN’s senior national reporter Zachary Cohen reported on Wednesday.
Read the latest on the conflict between Israel and Iran
The $13 billion carrier’s deployment — likely to the Mediterranean Sea — had been scheduled last year, sources to the network.
But it will still be seen as an unmistakable sign of increased global tensions surrounding the ongoing airstrikes between Israel and Iran.
The Ford will join the USS Carl Vinson, which is already in the Persian Gulf, and the USS Nimitz — which the US announced it was sending from Southeast Asia earlier this week.
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It comes after President Trump teased a possible US strike on Iran following the country’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejecting calls for unconditional surrender.
Several other US warships have left a US naval base in Bahrain as part of increased military movements around Iran, it was reported on Wednesday.
Aerial refueling tankers have also been sent to the region.
On Monday, the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier left the South China Sea and set off for the Middle East amid soaring tensions in the region.
An “emergent operational requirement” saw the ship cancel a scheduled docking in Danang City, Vietnam, planned for later this week, the US Embassy in Hanoi said in a statement on Monday.
Following the cancellation, the vessel was confirmed to be heading west toward the Middle East, ship tracking data showed.
The Nimitz had recently carried out maritime security operations in the South China Sea before setting course for the Middle East.
More than 30 US Air Force aerial-refueling tanks took off from American bases and headed east across the Atlantic this week, Middle East Monitor reported.
