The United States has deployed around 10,000 additional troops to the Middle East as negotiations aimed at ending the war with Iran, now in its eighth month, have reached a stalemate.
The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt departed from the port of San Diego on Sunday, while the USS Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group, comprising three amphibious ships carrying personnel from the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, set sail on Monday.
The deployment could bring the number of US aircraft carriers in the region to three by late October, according to an official.
Two US aircraft carriers, the USS George W. Bush and the USS George Washington, are currently operating in the region, alongside the USS Boxer Amphibious Ready Group.
The reinforcements are expected to raise the US naval presence in the Middle East to an unusually high level, with more than 20,000 sailors and Marines, supported by hundreds of aircraft.
