U.S Navy Deploys Third Aircraft Carrier In Middle East As Operation Epic Fury Escalates

The US has deployed two aircraft carrier strike groups to the Middle East in its ongoing campaign against Iran.

Per reports, U.S forces have hit 43 Iranian naval ships, while Iran has attacked strategic US bases in the Middle East, an ammunition ship in the Indian Ocean and the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet Headquarters in Bahrain, killing 21 American soldiers.

The U.S has decided to increase the naval buildup in the region.

The USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), operating with Carrier Air Wing 9 (CVW-9), is operating in the Arabian Sea, along with 8 Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers across the Arabian Sea, Eastern Mediterranean, and Red Sea.

The USS Gerald R. Ford crossed the Suez Canal on 5 March and is now in the Red Sea.

The USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) is expected to arrive at the theatre in 10 to 12 days.

US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth said that in the coming weeks, US and Israeli forces will increase their military presence in the region.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed to have hit the USS Abraham Lincoln with ballistic missiles; however U.S has called this baseless. Similar claims regarding the attack on the Lincoln strike group have also been dismissed by CENTCOM.

Spain has denied the US access to its bases at Rota and Moron, leading to threats from Trump.

Analysts argue that the Iranian Navy and IRGC were not designed to contest US surface dominance in a traditional sense, as their strategy was always centred on asymmetric threats i.e fact attack craft, anti-ship missiles and one-way attack drones.

Experts say that if Iran has enough missiles to attack U.S naval ships, then the risk for operating carriers within the range of Iranian strikes is high.