The Department of War is deploying the USS Tripoli amphibious assault ship and its 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit to the Middle East as the war with Iran moves into its third week.
War Secretary Pete Hegseth approved the U.S. Central Command request for a Marine amphibious ready group and the MEU, according to multiple reports. The deployment would send several warships and thousands of Marines and sailors to the Middle East as Iran targets the Strait of Hormuz, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Hegseth confirmed on Friday that over 15,000 targets have been struck so far in “Operation Epic Fury,” declaring in a press conference that the war has now moved to a phase in which the U.S. military is destroying Iran’s defense manufacturing infrastructure. He declared that “very soon, all of Iran’s defense companies will be destroyed.”
“But it’s not just that Iran doesn’t have a functioning air force, or that their entire navy is at the bottom of the Persian Gulf, or their missile force is shrinking daily. Even more importantly, they also don’t have the ability to build more. That’s the most important component I’d like to emphasize today,” Hegseth said.
Thirteen American service members have died since the operation began on Feb. 28. Six of these service members died on Thursday, when a refueling aircraft crashed in Iraq. About 200 American service members have been injured in the war, 30 of whom have not been cleared to return to duty.
IRAN WAR ENTERS NEXT PHASE OF DESTROYING ENTIRE MISSILE SUPPLY CHAIN: HEGSETH
The Washington Examiner has reached out to CENTCOM for comment on why the USS Tripoli, currently based in Japan, is being deployed to the Middle East. The White House referred the Washington Examiner to CENTCOM.
“Due to operations security we do not discuss future or hypothetical movements,” a Pentagon spokesperson said in a statement.
