United States to move third aircraft carrier closer to the Middle East

(Patria) - USS Gerald R. Ford will head to Europe next week, a Navy official said Friday, positioning a third U.S. aircraft carrier in closer proximity to the Middle East as Israel and Iran exchange blows, AFP reported.

Israel launched an unprecedented air campaign against Iran last week, and U.S. President Donald Trump said he was considering whether to join Israel in the fight.

"The Gerald Ford Carrier Strike Group will depart Norfolk (Virginia) on the morning of June 24 for a regularly scheduled deployment to the U.S. European Command area of responsibility," the Navy official said.

The U.S. Carl Vinson carrier strike group has been operating in the Middle East since earlier this year, participating in an air campaign against Iran-backed Yemeni Houthis.

A U.S. defense official confirmed that Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth ordered the Nimitz carrier strike group to head to the Middle East, saying it was "to maintain our defensive posture and protect American personnel".

Trump said on Thursday that he would decide whether to join Israeli strikes on Iran within the next two weeks, citing the possibility of negotiations to end the conflict.

That deadline comes after several tense days in which the U.S. president has publicly mused about attacking Iran and said Tehran's supreme leader Ali Khamenei was an "easy target".

Trump has spent weeks seeking a diplomatic path to an agreement to replace the Iran nuclear deal he violated in his first term in 2018, but has since supported Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities and military leaders.

The key issue is that the United States is the only country with massive "bunker buster" bombs that could destroy Iran's key uranium enrichment facility Fordo.

Numerous key figures in his "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) movement have loudly opposed U.S. attacks on Iran, and Trump's promise to pull the United States out of its "endless wars" in the Middle East played a role in his electoral victories in 2016 and 2024.