The Pentagon late Tuesday said it is sending another carrier strike group and additional air assets to the Middle East, moves that come amid the U.S. military campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen and strong warnings from the Trump administration to the Houthis’ chief patron, Iran.
Tuesday night’s Defense Department statement offered little detail on the specific air assets being sent to Central Command’s area of responsibility, or AOR, which encompasses the Mideast. The Associated Press, citing satellite images that it viewed, said that at least six nuclear-capable B-2 Spirit bombers had been deployed to the U.S. military base on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
In the statement, Defense Department spokesman Sean Parnell said that the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, which is already in the region, will remain there. The Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group, now in the Indo-Pacific, will soon head to the Mideast, Mr. Parnell said. Its mission will be “to continue promoting regional stability, deter aggression, and protect the free flow of commerce in the region,” a reference to the U.S.-led effort to stop the Houthis’ targeting of commercial ships in and around the Red Sea.
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