{"id":52648,"date":"2026-01-15T14:03:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T20:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=52648"},"modified":"2026-01-15T21:05:03","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T03:05:03","slug":"pentagon-moving-carrier-strike-group-toward-middle-east-amid-tensions-with-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=52648","title":{"rendered":"Pentagon moving carrier strike group toward Middle East amid tensions with Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Pentagon on Thursday said it is moving a carrier strike group from the South China Sea toward the Middle East as tensions between<\/u><\/a> the U.S. and Iran continue to rise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and its strike group were spotted moving west away from the Indo-Pacific region, according to images from Copernicus<\/u><\/a>, a satellite data company that monitors maritime traffic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The movement of the carrier strike group \u2014 which includes fighter jets, guided missile destroyers and at least one attack submarine \u2014 is expected to take about a week, a source told NewsNation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to The Hill\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This movement comes as tensions between Washington and Tehran have spiked amid unrest<\/u><\/a> in Iran over its economy and questions about whether President Trump\u2002<\/u><\/a>will strike the country<\/u><\/a> to aid mass protests challenging the autocratic regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump earlier this week encouraged Iranian protesters to continue pressuring the regime and vowed that \u201chelp is on the way<\/u><\/a>,\u201d signaling potential U.S. intervention. But Tehran has pushed back with its own threats<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The president so far has held off on any strikes in Iran, continuing to monitor the situation in the country. He was also advised that a large-scale strike against Iran was unlikely to topple the regime and could instead set off a wider conflict, The Wall Street Journal<\/u><\/a> reported Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advisers informed Trump that the U.S. military would need more troops and equipment in the Middle East to launch any large-scale strike while still protecting American forces in the region from potential retaliation, according to the Journal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A senior U.S. official also told The New York Times that Trump is waiting to see Iran\u2019s next move as he considers striking such targets as ballistic missile sites and Iran\u2019s domestic security apparatus, and that any attack \u201cis at least several days away<\/u><\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Protests have escalated in Iran since late December in response to declining economic conditions. It\u2019s not clear exactly how many people have died in the protests because of the Iranian government\u2019s internet blackout across the country, but the Human Rights Activists News Agency said more than 2,600 people have been killed<\/u><\/a> and more than 184,000 have been detained. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran has largely been restricting information<\/u><\/a> in and out of the country, and Wednesday it issued a \u201cNotice to Air Missions,\u201d or NOTAM, that flights in and out of Tehran have been restricted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iranian officials reportedly signaled Wednesday that trials and executions of protesters were planned, but Trump said he was told by \u201csources on the other side\u201d that executions in Iran will stop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But should the killings continue, \u201cvery strong action\u201d could still be taken on Iran, the president warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The administration on Thursday also announced new sanctions<\/u><\/a> against \u201cthe architects of the Iranian regime\u2019s brutal crackdown on peaceful demonstrators\u201d and the \u201cshadow banking networks\u201d alleged to be helping wealthy Iranians divert funds generated by the country\u2019s natural resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The USS Abraham Lincoln has been deployed since late November, after it departed San Diego with no Pentagon announcement for where it would be sent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

thehill<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Pentagon on Thursday said it is moving a carrier strike group from the South China Sea toward the Middle East as tensions between the U.S. and Iran continue to rise. The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and its strike group were spotted moving west away from the Indo-Pacific region, according to images from Copernicus, a satellite data […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":52649,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1153],"tags":[22797,1615,3792,1500],"class_list":["post-52648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-military","tag-aircraft-carrier","tag-iran","tag-middle-east","tag-pentagon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52648"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52648\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52650,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52648\/revisions\/52650"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/52649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}