The Pentagon has extended the deployment of a military group in the Middle East until 2027, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) found out. Up to 50,000 US troops could remain in the region as part of an “open-ended strategy” designed to “give options” to President Donald Trump in the conflict with Iran, sources told the publication.
According to the WSJ, Trump was offered a number of military plans at a meeting in August, including a land operation on the island of Khark, which is strategically important for Iran’s oil industry, and its neighbors in the Strait of Hormuz. There was also talk about the possible bombing of Mount Pickax, where, according to the United States, Iranian nuclear facilities may be hidden.
At the end of the month, the parties to the conflict resumed exchanging strikes against military targets. As the WSJ notes, the US contingent of 50,000 troops is primarily intended to continue the current strategy, which includes a military blockade of Iranian ports, but will leave Trump “room to maneuver.” The Pentagon and the US Central Command (CENTCOM) declined to comment specifically.
Unnamed WSJ interlocutors fear that due to the extension of the mission to 2027, a number of ships with a crew of several hundred people may find themselves in a situation similar to the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.
At the beginning of September, for the first time, he fully entered the port of Thailand after almost 300 days at sea without a break. Sailors complained about problems with food and equipment on board – several people tried to commit suicide, CNN reported.
WSJ sources associated these types of problems with the rupture of supply chains amid the conflict. Now all deliveries to US ships are carried out through the only military base on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
At the same time, the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt is probably already being prepared for shipment to the Middle East, which may remain there until the spring of next year, the publication adds. His destination has not yet been officially announced.
