USS Gerald Ford Heads to Middle East as Iran Stalls on Nuclear Talks
Reuters: “The United States most recently had two aircraft carriers in the area last year, when it carried out strikes against Iranian nuclear sites in June.”
The U.S. Navy’s Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group is heading to the Middle East, joining the USS Abraham Lincoln already in the region, according to news reports.
“The USS Ford Carrier Strike Group has been notified that they are leaving the Caribbean and headed to the Middle East,” NBC News reported on Friday, quoting officials.
CONFIRMED USS Gerald R. Ford ordered to deploy immediately to the Middle East. The Ford and its aircraft carrier strike group arrived in the Caribbean on Nov 16 from the Med. Now it is heading back to the Mediterranean.
— Jennifer Griffin (@JenGriffinFNC) February 13, 2026
The news comes nearly a week after President Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, had a series of talks with Iranians in Oman. The talks failed to end the deadlock, with the Iranian top negotiator and Foreign Minister, Abbas Araghchi, threatening to attack U.S. military bases in the Middle East shortly after the meeting.
“The USS Gerald R. Ford’s planned deployment to the Mideast comes after Trump only days earlier suggested another round of talks with the Iranians was at hand,” The Associated Press observed on Friday. “Those negotiations didn’t materialize as one of Tehran’s top security officials visited Oman and Qatar this week and exchanged messages with the U.S. intermediaries.”
PRESIDENT TRUMP on why he made the decision to send a second aircraft carrier to Iran:
“In case we don’t make a deal. We’ll need it!” pic.twitter.com/a1GtOLuUra
— Fox News (@FoxNews) February 13, 2026
It is worth noting that during Operation Midnight Hammer last June, when the U.S. struck key Iranian nuclear weapons facilities, two aircraft carriers were deployed in the region.
Reuters reported:
The Pentagon is sending an aircraft carrier from the Caribbean to the Middle East, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Friday, a move that would put two carriers in the region as tensions soar between the United States and Iran.
The Gerald R. Ford carrier, the United States’ newest and the world’s largest carrier, has been operating in the Caribbean with its escort ships and took part in operations in Venezuela earlier this year. (…)
The Gerald R. Ford will join the Abraham Lincoln carrier, several guided-missile destroyers, fighter jets and surveillance aircraft that have been moved to the Middle East in recent weeks.
The United States most recently had two aircraft carriers in the area last year, when it carried out strikes against Iranian nuclear sites in June.
The deployment of the second carrier strike group to the Middle East highlights President Trump’s approach of increasing the pressure on the Mullah regime as diplomacy fails to reach a breakthrough.
The Wall Street Journal, citing U.S. officials, commented that by “sending the Navy’s largest and most advanced aircraft carrier to the Middle East” the Trump administration is “step[ing] up plans for a potential attack on Iran.”
President Trump wants Iran, the world’s biggest state sponsor of terrorism, to give up its nuclear weapons program entirely. He has also called for an end to the massacre of Iranians demonstrating against the regime.
Tehran, however, is playing for time and refusing to make any commitments. Having outwitted the Obama-Kerry duo in 2015, the Khamenei regime hopes to deceive the Trump team in the current round of negotiations.
Trump warns “we have to make a deal with Iran or it’s going to be very traumatic” as the U.S. moves military assets into the region — @Gen_JackKeane explains the president’s latest moves. pic.twitter.com/rVj2cx4b6e
— FOX & Friends (@foxandfriends) February 13, 2026
The USS Ford, the world’s largest carrier, took part in the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro in early January.
“The Ford is the world’s largest carrier and its presence in the Caribbean was seen as putting pressure on then-Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his government,” ABC News reported. “Some of the aircraft aboard the carrier participated in the Jan. 3 raid in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas that led to Maduro’s capture.”
Three destroyers will accompany the nuclear-powered carrier to the Middle East, news reports confirm.
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Comments
So the Iranians didn’t learn anything from the last time? They didn’t see a connection with two strike groups and getting their posteriors kicked before the entire world? Now they want to enjoy it again?
Idjits. Blithering idjits, the whole lot of ’em.
We need to be ready for a strike of their own on our ships. Somehow I think the US Navy might have thought of that.
.
Need more than 3 destroyers I’m thinking if the Iranians launch a mass drone + missile attack + speedboat attack. I wonder what Pentagon simulators show for the numbers required in order for some to get through. I’m assuming our attached nuclear attack subs can take out the Iranians subs prior to their engagement.
Maybe if we sent them pallets of cash…./s
It’s about time to take the head off the snake. The mullahs need to be conquered once and for all.
Bomb the Iranian terrorist/Islamofascist regime, to hell. Then follow that up by hitting the Qatari regime’s palaces, oil facilities and the vile dhimmi prostitute, Tucker Carlson’s house, in Doha.
did Jack Keane have a stroke?
drone the cities that need it
help the good people by dropping food to them as the other drones take out the dnc of the middle east
The Don’s about to make Iran an offer they can’t refuse.
(Sorry, couldn’t resist.)
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