US to send third aircraft carrier towards Iran: US official to Al Jazeera

Massive US military deployment in the Middle East includes 50,000 troops, F-35s and Marines to pressure Tehran.

The US Navy nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln sails to dock at the Laem Chabang deep-sea port in Laem Chabang, Chonburi province, Thailand, on September 2, 2026 [Rungroj Yongrit/EPA]

The United States is deploying a third US 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 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.

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By the end of November, the official said, three aircraft carriers and two amphibious landing groups will be positioned around Iran.

The official said the concentration of force would hand President Donald Trump a wider menu of options if he decides to act.

Al Jazeera’s Tanya Noury, reporting from Washington, said the new deployment includes thousands of troops and extra air power, including F-35 fighter jets, layered on top of the roughly 50,000 US 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 unfolds, with the Pentagon not planning to withdraw any assets even if an agreement with Iran is reached. 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 he believes the US is “going to win the war” with Iran “very soon”, while suggesting in other remarks that a return to military action “is possible” but something he would rather not spell out before November’s midterm elections.

Washington has paired the show of force with new economic pressure , sanctioning Iran’s rail and automotive conglomerates this week, as the Treasury Department called the new measures an effort to drain what remains of Tehran’s revenue.

Parallel to the military build-up, Iran has pushed a seven-day roadmap , conveyed through Qatar, that would see it reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume nuclear talks in exchange for an end to the US naval blockade, sanctions relief and a regional ceasefire covering Lebanon and Yemen.

The plan was then rejected by Trump.

US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz told NBC the plan’s demand for frozen funds and sanctions relief was non-negotiable, noting “these aren’t just the United States’ sanctions … these are global sanctions”, and pointing to seven UN Security Council resolutions against an Iranian nuclear weapons programme.

Iran’s response, in the meantime, has been similarly two-pronged.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told NBC that Tehran was “fully prepared” to resume the war, before writing on 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 shifted from whether to negotiate to “who is going to abandon the primary leverage first”, while former US ambassador Richard Schmierer said Trump is caught between delaying past the midterms and the political cost of offering concessions that mirror a June deal he was already criticised for.

Nearly 70 percent of Americans now say the war has not been worth fighting , according to a new AP-NORC poll, with Trump brushing off the slide in his approval ratings by insisting “the pollsters are corrupt”.

美国在中东大规模部署军事力量，包括5万名士兵、F-35战斗机和海军陆战队员，以向德黑兰施压。

2026年9月2日，美国海军核动力航空母舰“亚伯拉罕·林肯”号驶入泰国春武里府林查班深水港停靠。[Rungroj Yongrit/EPA]

一位美国官员告诉半岛电视台，随着战争进入第八个月，双方都在权衡升级冲突和进行外交接触，美国正在向伊朗附近海域部署第三艘美国航空母舰。

这位官员告诉半岛电视台，西奥多·罗斯福号航母打击群于周日离开其位于圣地亚哥的基地，前往该地区，一天后，载有 2000 多名海军陆战队员的马金岛海军陆战队远征军也抵达了该地区。

伊朗民众囤积食品和药品，担忧美国再次发动战争，名单1/3

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该官员表示，到11月底，将有三艘航空母舰和两个两栖登陆部队部署在伊朗周围。

这位官员表示，集中兵力将使唐纳德·特朗普总统在决定采取行动时拥有更广泛的选择。

半岛电视台驻华盛顿记者塔尼亚·努里报道称，此次新的部署包括数千名士兵和额外的空中力量，包括 F-35 战斗机，这些力量叠加在已经驻扎在该地区约 5 万名美军士兵之上。

努里援引五角大楼和白宫内部消息人士的话称，目标是无论外交进程如何发展，都要让特朗普保留军事选项，即使与伊朗达成协议，五角大楼也不打算撤回任何军事力量。国防部长皮特·赫格塞斯表示，如果特朗普下令发动新的打击，部队“随时准备行动”。

特朗普本人也一直在公开场合散布威胁。他告诉福克斯新闻，他相信美国“很快”就会“赢得”与伊朗的战争，同时在其他讲话中也暗示，恢复军事行动“是有可能的”，但他不愿在11月中期选举前对此做出明确表态。

华盛顿在展示武力的同时，也施加了新的经济压力，本周对伊朗的铁路和汽车集团实施了制裁。美国财政部称，这些新措施旨在耗尽德黑兰剩余的收入。

在军事集结的同时，伊朗通过卡塔尔推出了一项为期七天的路线图，该路线图将重新开放霍尔木兹海峡并恢复核谈判，以换取美国结束海上封锁、解除制裁以及在黎巴嫩和也门地区停火。

该计划随后被特朗普否决。

美国驻联合国大使迈克·沃尔兹告诉NBC，该计划要求冻结资金和解除制裁是不可谈判的，他指出“这些不仅仅是美国的制裁……这些是全球制裁”，并提到了联合国安理会七项反对伊朗核武器计划的决议。

与此同时，伊朗的回应也采取了类似的双管齐下的策略。

伊朗外长阿巴斯·阿拉格奇告诉美国全国广播公司（NBC），德黑兰已“做好充分准备”恢复战争，之后他在X网站上写道：“我们来纽约不是为了发动战争，而是为了缔造和平。”

分析人士称，这种模棱两可的信号是故意的。

中东战略研究中心的阿巴斯·阿斯拉尼表示，争端已经从是否谈判转变为“谁会先放弃主要筹码”，而美国前大使理查德·施米勒则表示，特朗普陷入两难境地：一方面是推迟到中期选举之后，另一方面是做出与他此前因6月份达成的协议类似的让步所带来的政治代价，而他此前已经因为该协议而受到批评。

根据美联社-NORC公共事务研究中心的一项最新民调显示，近70%的美国人认为这场战争不值得打，而特朗普则对支持率下滑不以为然，坚称“民调机构腐败”。