The United States is reportedly sending a third aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East, along with an amphibious force carrying 2,000 Marines, as indirect talks with Iran remain deadlocked. The buildup should be complete by November, The Wall Street Journal reported. President Donald Trump has signaled he intends to resume strikes on Iran after the November midterm elections.
The USS Theodore Roosevelt group and the Makin Island force have left San Diego, a U.S. official told Al Jazeera. The planned deployment adds military forces to a region where Washington and Tehran still haven’t reached an agreement to end the conflict. It also comes as the U.S. imposes sanctions on Iranian industries and financial channels.
Military pressure and stalled talks
The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump recently told aides he expects to resume bombing Iran in November, after the midterm elections. The newspaper also said the full military buildup should be complete by then.
Diplomatic efforts appeared deadlocked. Washington rejected Iran’s proposal to reopen Hormuz in exchange for lifting the U.S. blockade, and indirect talks have stalled. Oil prices remain above pre-war levels, the article reported.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly ordered Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi’s delegation to leave New York earlier than planned after Qatari-mediated indirect talks failed to produce a breakthrough. The report called the move an unusual diplomatic rebuke and said it underscored mistrust between the two countries. No agreement came from the talks described in the report.
Sanctions and shipping risks
On Thursday, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned Iran’s auto and rail sectors. The measures covered state-owned rail firms and suppliers in the UAE, Hong Kong, Turkey and Indonesia. Treasury also targeted the A7 network, which the report describes as a Russia-linked financial channel Iran uses to evade sanctions.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wrote on X on Thursday that Iran loaded “ZERO crude oil” onto tankers in September. Oil prices remained above pre-war levels, according to the article. Washington also rejected Tehran’s proposal concerning the reopening of Hormuz and the lifting of the U.S. blockade.
United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said an unknown projectile struck a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, causing a fire. The crew was safe. The report didn’t identify who fired the projectile.
Disputed attack claims in Yemen
On Thursday, the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen accused the Iran-backed Houthis of carrying out a drone attack on a Medina power station that supplies the Prophet’s Mosque. Coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said the strike knocked one transformer at the Taibah distribution station out of service but left the wider grid intact.
A Houthi military staff member told the Saba news agency the accusation was a “lie” meant to cover up Saudi Arabia’s failure to substantiate an earlier claim that the Houthis targeted Mecca, the Muslim holy city. The competing claims remained disputed in the account. The article reported no resolution of the accusation as U.S. forces move toward a larger regional deployment and diplomatic contacts between Washington and Tehran remain stalled.