The massive US military deployment to the Middle East includes 50,000 troops, F-35s and marines to pressure Tehran. Published October 2, 2026 October 2, 2026 The United States is deploying a third American aircraft carrier to the waters around Iran, a US official told Al Jazeera, as the war enters its eighth month and both sides weigh escalation and diplomatic engagement. The official told Al Jazeera that the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier strike group left its San Diego base on Sunday, bound for the region, followed a day later by the Makin Island Marine Expeditionary Force, carrying more than 2,000 Marines. Washington said the new deployment includes thousands of additional troops and airpower, including F-35 fighter jets, in addition to the roughly 50,000 U.S. service members already stationed in the region. The goal, Noury said, citing sources inside the Pentagon and White House, is to keep military options “on the table” for Trump regardless of how diplomacy plays out, and the Pentagon does not plan to withdraw any assets even if a deal is reached with Iran. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said forces are “ready to go” should Trump order new strikes. Trump himself has kept the threat alive in public. He told Fox News that he believes the United States is “going to win the war” with Iran “very soon,” while in other statements he suggested that a return to military action “is possible,” but something he would prefer not to explain before the November midterm elections. Washington has combined the show of force with new economic pressure, sanctioning Iran’s rail and auto conglomerates this week, while the Treasury Department called the new measures an effort to drain what’s left of Tehran’s revenue. During the military buildup, Iran has pushed a seven-day road map, transmitted through Qatar, that would allow it to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume nuclear talks in exchange for an end to the U.S. naval blockade, sanctions relief and a regional ceasefire covering Lebanon and Yemen. The plan was later rejected by Trump. US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz told NBC that the plan’s demand for frozen funds and sanctions relief was non-negotiable, noting that “these are not just US issues.” sanctions…these are global sanctions,” and points to seven UN Security Council resolutions against an Iranian nuclear weapons program. Meanwhile, Iran’s response has been similarly two-fold. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told NBC that Tehran was “fully prepared” to resume war, before writing in X that “we did not come to New York to sell a war. We came to forge peace.” Analysts say the mixed signals are deliberate. Abas Aslani of the Center for Middle East Strategic Studies said the dispute has moved from whether to negotiate to “who is going to give up primary influence first,” while former U.S. ambassador Richard Schmierer said Trump is caught between delaying the midterm elections and the political cost of offering concessions that mirror a June deal for which he was already criticized. Nearly 70 percent of Americans They now say the war wasn’t worth fighting, according to a new AP-NORC poll, and Trump downplayed the drop in his approval ratings by insisting “the pollsters are corrupt.”
