The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson is making its way to the Middle East, Newsweek reported Monday.
Currently surfing through the Indian Ocean after making its way out of the Strait of Malacca, the aircraft carrier will join the USS Harry S. Truman in the Middle East. The story comes amid the Trump administration’s increased saber-rattling with Iran after decades of pressure in U.S. politics from the Israeli Likud bloc.
Through decades of persistence from the Israel lobby to draw the U.S. into a effort to attack Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with President Donald Trump on Monday. There, in the Oval Office, Netanyahu told reporters that “whatever happens, we have to make sure that Iran does not have nuclear weapons. That’s the end of my speech.”
Later in the press conference, Trump said Iran would be in “great danger” if they don’t accept the United States terms for a deal on their nuclear program. Trump said the U.S. and Iran would hold “very high-level” conversations on Saturday.
Last week, on Tuesday, Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement that the “Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group” would be arriving in the Middle East, ostensibly the Red Sea where Yemen and the Houthis are located, “to continue promoting regional stability, deter aggression, and protect the free flow of commerce in the region.”
Parnell added that “Secretary [Pete] Hegseth continues to make clear that, should Iran or its proxies threaten American personnel and interests in the region, the United States will take decisive action to defend our people.”
Despite the Pentagon’s warning, Iran has denied aiding the Houthis, and the leader of the Houthis has claimed that such strikes in the Red Sea were carried out in solidarity with the Palestinians.
Last month, Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said, “our Yemeni people during the last 50 months have stood side-by-side with the Palestinian people in facing the genocide committed by the Israelis with the partnership of the Americans.”
Additionally, on April 1, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi posted to X that Iran doesn’t have nuclear weapons — despite the insistence from Netanyahu and American neoconservatives.
Trump “may not like the 2015 nuclear deal,” Araghchi wrote. “But it contains one vital commitment by Iran which remains in place, and which even the US — being out of the deal — has benefited from: ‘Iran reaffirms that under no circumstances will Iran ever seek, develop or acquire any nuclear weapons.’
“10 years after signing the [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] — and 7 years after the US unilaterally walked away from it — there is not ONE SHRED OF PROOF that Iran has violated this commitment. Even [Director of National Intelligence Tulsi] Gabbard recently made this abundantly clear.”
Diplomatic engagement worked in the past and can still work,” Araghchi added. “BUT, it should be clear to all that there is — by definition — no such thing as a ‘military option’ let alone a ‘military solution.’ Catastrophic failures in our region which have cost prior US administrations MORE THAN 7 TRILLION DOLLARS are ample evidence.”
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