USS Theodore Roosevelt strike group heads to Middle East amid Iran war

The USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group has left San Diego for the Middle East to relieve the USS George Washington, as NBC News reports three US carriers will be around Iran by the end of November.

The USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group left San Diego on Sept. 27 for a deployment to the Middle East, where it is expected to relieve the USS George Washington in support of operations against Iran. The group includes the guided-missile cruiser USS Chosin and the destroyers USS Paul Hamilton, USS Decatur and USS Carl M. Levin.

USS Theodore Roosevelt leaving San Diego on Sept. 27

According to NBC News, three aircraft carriers and two amphibious ready groups will be deployed around Iran by the end of November. The Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group, carrying the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit with F-35B jets and MV-22B aircraft, left the West Coast on Sept. 28 and is expected to relieve the Boxer group, which has been in the region since mid-March.

With the Roosevelt, five of the Navy’s 11 aircraft carriers have been committed to operations linked to the war that began on Feb. 28: the Gerald R. Ford, Abraham Lincoln, George H.W. Bush, George Washington and Theodore Roosevelt. The Navy has kept two carrier strike groups in the Middle East since the war began.

The amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island (LHD-8) (file)

The deployment comes as US President Donald Trump told TIME magazine that intensified bombing of Iran after the Nov. 3 midterm elections was “likely.” Earlier this month, 29 sailors and nine Marines were wounded near the Strait of Hormuz as Iran targeted US Navy ships.