The Pentagon has extended the deployment of the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt and its strike group after a largely failed attack by the Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah on Israel over the weekend.
Choosing to keep the second carrier in the Middle East means there will now be two carriers and their warships available for U.S. Central Command amid the threat of a full regional war erupting.
The TR arrived in the Middle East in early July, while fellow carrier Abraham Lincoln steamed into the region last week.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced the decision in a statement over the weekend.
Theodore Roosevelt replaced the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower, whose deployment to the region had itself been extended multiple times, earlier this summer.
The extensions are part of America’s surge in forces to the region this month in an attempt to avert a larger conflict between Israel and Iran and its proxies.
In addition to Lincoln, another fighter jet squadron, and other assets have also been rushed to the region. The Georgia, a ballistic missile submarine, is still on its way to CENTCOM, Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters Monday.
Ryder didn’t say how long the Roosevelt would be extended or exactly when the decision was made, only saying Austin chose to do so over the weekend.
The surge seeks to provide some gray-hull deterrence after Israel launched two strikes in late July that heightened regional tensions — one in Lebanon’s capital that came in retaliation for an earlier strike from Hezbollah, and another in Tehran, killing the political leader of Hamas.
Since then, the U.S. and its partners in the region have been bracing for return strikes from Hezbollah and Iran. The first came this weekend in an attack involving more than 230 rockets fired from Lebanon, according to the Israeli military. Preemptive strikes from Israel mainly thwarted the salvo, and both sides signaled that they were deescalating afterward.
When asked in a morning press conference with reporters Monday whether America’s surge in forces to the region had worked as intended, Ryder agreed.
“I think that the additional forces in the theater send a very clear message to all actors in the region that were serious when it comes to supporting the defense of Israel,” he said.
Ryder said the U.S. had helped Israel spot incoming rockets from Hezbollah but hadn’t participated in Israel’s preemptive strikes in Lebanon. Israel didn’t need kinetic support, Ryder said, but the U.S. is prepared to aid in its defense going forward.
“We continue to assess that there is a threat of attack” from Iran, Ryder said.
Noah Robertson is the Pentagon reporter at Defense News. He previously covered national security for the Christian Science Monitor. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English and government from the College of William & Mary in his hometown of Williamsburg, Virginia.
