USS Gerald Ford the second aircraft carrier sent to Middle East: Report

The United States will send the world’s largest aircraft carrier to the Middle East to back up another already there, a person familiar with the plans said Friday, putting more American firepower behind President Donald Trump’s efforts to coerce Iran into a deal over its nuclear program.

The USS Gerald R. Ford’s planned deployment to the Mideast comes after Trump only days earlier suggested another round of talks with the Iranians was at hand. Those negotiations didn’t materialize as one of Tehran’s top security officials visited Oman and Qatar this week and exchanged messages with the U.S. intermediaries.

Already, Gulf Arab nations have warned any attack could spiral into another regional conflict in a Mideast still reeling from the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, Iranians are beginning to hold 40-day mourning ceremonies for the thousands killed in Tehran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests last month, adding to the internal pressure faced by the sanctions-battered Islamic Republic.

The Ford’s deployment, first reported by The New York Times, will put two carriers and their accompanying warships in the region. Already, the USS Abraham Lincoln and its accompanying guided-missile destroyers are in the Arabian Sea.

The person who spoke to The Associated Press on the deployment did so on condition of anonymity to discuss military movements.

It marks a quick turnaround for the Ford, which Trump sent from the Mediterranean Sea to the Caribbean last October as the administration build up a huge military presence in the lead-up to the surprise raid last month that captured then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro .

It also appears to be at odds with Trump’s national security strategy, which put an emphasis on the Western Hemisphere over other parts of the world.

Trump on Thursday warned Iran that failure to reach a deal with his administration would be “very traumatic.” Iran and the United States held indirect talks in Oman last week.

“I guess over the next month, something like that,” Trump said in response to a question about his timeline for striking a deal with Iran on its nuclear program. “It should happen quickly. They should agree very quickly.”

Trump told Axios earlier this week that he was considering sending a second carrier strike group to the Middle East.

Trump held lengthy talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday and said he insisted to Israel’s leader that negotiations with Iran needed to continue. Netanyahu is urging the administration to press Tehran to scale back its ballistic missile program and end its support for militant groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah as part of any deal.

The USS Ford set out on deployment in late June 2025, which means the crew will have been deployed for eight months in two weeks time. While it is unclear how long the ship will remain in the Middle East, the move sets the crew up for an usually long deployment.

The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Iran at home faces still-simmering anger over its wide-ranging suppression of all dissent in the Islamic Republic. That rage may intensify in the coming days as families of the dead begin marking the traditional 40-day mourning for the loved ones. Already, online videos have shown mourners gathering in different parts of the country, holding portraits of their dead.

One video purported to show mourners at a graveyard in Iran’s Razavi Khorasan province, home to Mashhad, on Thursday. There, with a large portable speaker, people sang the patriotic song “Ey Iran,” which dates to 1940s Iran under the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. While initially banned after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran’s theocratic government has played it to drum up support.

“Oh Iran, a land of full of jewels, your soil is full of art,” they sang. “May evil wishes be far from you. May you live eternal. Oh enemy, if you are a piece of granite, I am iron.”

一位知情人士周五表示，美国将派遣世界上最大的航空母舰前往中东，支援另一艘已经在那里的航母，这将为唐纳德·特朗普总统迫使伊朗就其核计划达成协议的努力提供更多美国火力支持。

“杰拉尔德·R·福特”号航空母舰计划部署到中东，而就在几天前，特朗普还暗示将与伊朗举行新一轮会谈。然而，这些会谈并未成行，因为德黑兰的一位高级安全官员本周访问了阿曼和卡塔尔，并与美国中间人交换了信息。

海湾阿拉伯国家已经警告，任何袭击都可能在中东地区引发另一场地区冲突，而中东地区仍在加沙地带以色列与哈马斯战争的余波中挣扎。

与此同时，伊朗民众开始为上个月德黑兰血腥镇压全国抗议活动中丧生的数千人举行为期 40 天的哀悼仪式，这加剧了遭受制裁的伊朗伊斯兰共和国面临的内部压力。

据《纽约时报》率先报道，福特号航母的部署将使该地区拥有两艘航母及其护航​​舰艇。此前，亚伯拉罕·林肯号航母及其护航​​导弹驱逐舰已在阿拉伯海部署。

一位就此次部署向美联社透露消息的人士要求匿名，以便讨论军事调动。

对于“福特”号来说，这是一个迅速的转变。去年十月，特朗普政府将这艘军舰从地中海派往加勒比海，当时正值政府在突袭行动前夕建立起庞大的军事存在，该行动于上个月抓获了当时的委内瑞拉总统尼古拉斯·马杜罗。

这似乎也与特朗普的国家安全战略相悖，该战略更侧重于西半球而非世界其他地区。

特朗普周四警告伊朗，如果未能与美国政府达成协议，后果将“非常严重”。伊朗和美国上周在阿曼举行了间接会谈。

特朗普在被问及何时能与伊朗就其核计划达成协议时表示：“我猜大概在接下来的一个月左右吧。应该很快就能达成一致。他们应该很快就会同意。”

特朗普本周早些时候告诉 Axios，他正在考虑向中东派遣第二个航母打击群。

特朗普周三与以色列总理内塔尼亚胡举行了长时间会谈，并表示他向内塔尼亚胡强调，与伊朗的谈判必须继续进行。内塔尼亚胡敦促美国政府向德黑兰施压，要求其缩减弹道导弹计划，并停止支持哈马斯和真主党等武装组织，以此作为达成任何协议的一部分。

“福特”号两栖攻击舰于2025年6月下旬启程部署，这意味着两周后舰员们将完成八个月的部署。虽然目前尚不清楚该舰将在中东停留多久，但此举无疑将使舰员们面临一次异常漫长的部署。

白宫方面尚未对此事作出回应。

伊朗国内民众对该国全面镇压异议的愤怒情绪依然高涨。随着死者家属开始为亲人举行传统的40天哀悼期，这种愤怒情绪可能会在未来几天进一步加剧。目前，网络视频已经显示，哀悼者聚集在全国各地，手持逝者的遗像。

一段视频显示，周四在伊朗拉扎维霍拉桑省（马什哈德所在地）的一处墓地，哀悼者们正在聚集。他们用一个大型便携式扬声器播放爱国歌曲《Ey Iran》。这首歌可以追溯到20世纪40年代伊朗沙阿穆罕默德·礼萨·巴列维统治时期。尽管在1979年伊斯兰革命后最初被禁，但伊朗神权政府曾多次播放这首歌来争取支持。

“哦，伊朗，一片充满珠宝的土地，你的土壤孕育着艺术，”他们唱道。“愿邪恶远离你。愿你永生。哦，敌人，如果你是花岗岩，我就是钢铁。”