The aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford and its strike group are crossing the Atlantic Ocean and heading toward the Middle East, a US Navy official told USNI News on Tuesday, as the US continues its massive military buildup in the region to prepare for a potential attack on Iran.
The Ford left the Caribbean after operating in the waters for several months as part of “Operation Southern Spear,” the US military operation that has involved airstrikes on alleged drug-running boats and the US attack on Venezuela to kidnap President Nicolas Maduro.
The Ford will be the second US aircraft carrier entering US Central Command’s area of responsibility, joining the USS Abraham Lincoln, which has been operating in the Arabian Sea. If the Ford is deployed through mid-April, it will break the post-Vietnam War 294-day record for US carrier deployments.
The US has also positioned additional fighter jets at its bases in the region, moving 50 F-35, F-22, and F-16 jets to the Middle East just over the past 24 hours, according to a US official speaking to Axios. More than 150 US military cargo aircraft have flown to the region since last month as the US is beefing up its air defenses to prepare for Iranian counterattacks, which could cause significant US casualties if Tehran doesn’t hold back in its response.
The US has continued its military buildup in the region despite renewed negotiations with Iran, which were held in Geneva on Tuesday. The talks ended without a breakthrough, and while Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said there was a “clear path” to a deal, US Vice President JD Vance said Tehran wasn’t acknowledging President Trump’s “red lines.”
Israel’s Channel 12 reported that the White House has given Israel the impression that the talks with Iran have reached an end and that Israeli officials are convinced Trump will launch an attack on the Islamic Republic. The report said the US sought to create the impression that it had exhausted negotiations to “legitimize” a potential US attack.
The Trump administration has repeatedly shifted its pretext for a potential attack on Iran, and Vance is now claiming that the US’s main red line is that Iran cannot acquire a nuclear weapon. But for months, President Trump had insisted the June 2025 US strikes on Iran “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear facilities, and there’s no sign Tehran can enrich uranium at the moment. Iran has also been clear that it’s ready to agree to a deal that would involve committing to low enrichment levels, and Iranian officials have maintained that they don’t seek nuclear weapons.
