The Pentagon is moving approximately 5,000 Marines and Sailors with the Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and the embarked 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) to the Middle East, as Iran steps up its attacks on the Strait of Hormuz, Newsmax National Security correspondent Carla Babb reported Saturday, citing two senior military officials.
USS Tripoli, the amphibious assault ship, and amphibious transport docks USS San Diego and USS New Orleans make up the Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group. One senior military official confirmed to Newsmax that all three amphibs will deploy to the region after operating in the Philippine Sea this week.
Earlier reports were unclear whether the entire Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group would travel to the Middle East.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth approved the request from Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, which oversees American forces in the Middle East.
The move comes as Iran’s attacks on the Strait of Hormuz have essentially blocked traffic through the strategic waterway. Oil and gas prices have surged amid the disruption.
President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social on Saturday that the U.S. has already destroyed "100%" of Iran’s military capability and that "many countries" will send warships to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
"Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others affected by this artificial constraint will send ships to the area so the Hormuz Strait will no longer be a threat from a nation that has been totally decapitated," Trump wrote.
The U.S. is now more than two weeks into a war against Iran launched with ally Israel on Feb. 28. Trump has repeatedly said the war will end soon, even as additional forces head to the region. Marine Expeditionary Units can launch attacks on land targets from the sea if needed.
The president says the war aims to eliminate Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, which the administration said were “significantly degraded” last June. Iran’s longtime leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in an early Israeli airstrike on the first day of the U.S.-Israeli assault.
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