Another US amphibious assault ship has arrived in the “area of responsibility of the US Central Command”.
According to the command, the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli arrived on 27 March, carrying about 3,500 sailors and Marines, as well as transport and strike aircraft, and landing and tactical assets.
The area of responsibility of the US Central Command (USCENTCOM) covers, among other things, the Middle East.
According to the US publication Newsweek, the destroyer Tripoli was redeployed from the South China Sea last week. Satellites showed it travelling southwest at high speed under escort of at least two destroyers. On 25 March, the ship reportedly docked at the remote island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
On 26 March, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Pentagon is considering sending up to 10,000 additional ground troops to the Middle East to give U.S. President Donald Trump more military options as he advances a 15-point peace plan that has been handed to Iran.
According to the newspaper, the force will join about five thousand Marines and thousands of elite paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division who have already been deployed to the region.
28 February The US launched a joint military operation with Israel against Iran. The strikes killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and hit the country’s military and nuclear facilities. Iran retaliated by striking US bases and infrastructure of Washington’s Gulf allies.
Since the launch of the operation, Iran has effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Persian Gulf to the world’s oceans. The Strait is of strategic importance, as it is used to deliver oil from the oil-producing countries of the Persian Gulf to the world market.