US Unleashes Rare Three-Carrier Show of Force in the Middle East
For the first time since 2003, three US aircraft carriers are operating simultaneously in the Middle East, marking a major American naval buildup tied to Operation Epic Fury.
US Central Command said the USS George H.W. Bush has arrived in the region after departing Naval Station Norfolk in March, joining the USS Gerald R. Ford and the USS Abraham Lincoln. The three carrier strike groups together bring more than 200 aircraft and around 15,000 Sailors and Marines into the theater.
The deployment significantly expands US military presence across the region at a time of heightened tensions involving Iran. Aircraft assigned to the carriers include F-35 fighters, F/A-18 jets, and EA-18G Growlers, while the strike groups are also supported by at least nine destroyers.
CENTCOM described the deployment as the first time in decades that three aircraft carriers have operated in the Middle East at the same time. A similar overlap may have briefly occurred in January 2012, when the USS Abraham Lincoln relieved the USS John C. Stennis while the USS Carl Vinson was also in the region, but that overlap was short and did not amount to a sustained three-carrier operation.
The arrival of the George H.W. Bush comes as the USS Gerald R. Ford continues an unusually long deployment that has now stretched beyond 300 days, making it the longest US carrier deployment since the Cold War era and one that is nearing records set during the Vietnam period. The Ford left Norfolk on June 24, 2025, and Navy leaders have indicated it may remain at sea for roughly 11 months.
Meanwhile, the USS Abraham Lincoln departed Naval Station San Diego in November and was redirected from the Indo-Pacific to the Middle East in January following President Donald Trump’s announcement amid rising tensions between Washington and Tehran.
The expanded naval deployment is directly linked to Operation Epic Fury, which began in February. Since the start of the operation, US forces have carried out more than 13,000 strikes against Iranian targets and have damaged or destroyed more than 155 Iranian vessels, according to CENTCOM.
US naval forces have also been conducting mine-clearing operations in the Strait of Hormuz and are playing a central role in enforcing a maritime blockade on traffic entering and leaving Iranian ports. Ships traveling to and from non-Iranian ports are still being allowed to pass through the strategic waterway.
President Donald Trump said he ordered the Navy to “shoot and kill” any Iranian vessels found laying mines in the strait, underlining the increasingly aggressive US posture in the region. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the blockade is producing results, adding that vessels believed to be linked to Iranian port traffic have been turned back.
Hegseth also said the operation will be reinforced further, with another aircraft carrier set to join the Abraham Lincoln in support of blockade enforcement in the coming days.
The simultaneous presence of the George H.W. Bush, Gerald R. Ford, and Abraham Lincoln underscores the scale of the US response and signals one of the most concentrated American naval deployments in the Middle East in more than two decades.
