WASHINGTON/TEHRAN – The Pentagon is sending a third aircraft carrier strike group and additional Marine Corps ships to the Middle East, adding 9,000 to 10,000 more US troops to the region, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
The ships, jet fighters, Marines and sailors will arrive in the region by the end of November, the report cited US officials as saying.
Two carriers - the USS George H.W. Bush and USS George Washington - are already in the Middle East. The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt left its home port of San Diego on Sunday for a scheduled deployment.
If the Washington stays after the Roosevelt arrives, it will bring the region to three carrier strike groups for the first time since April, the report noted.
Also on Thursday, US President Donald Trump said at the White House that Iran "won't exist any longer" unless it signs "a very fair deal", renewing his threats amid stalled negotiations.
In a Time magazine interview published on the same day, Trump said that it's "possible" that he will ramp up bombing against Iran after the midterm elections. He dismissed a report on munition shortages as "fake news".
'Violating' supertanker hit in Hormuz Strait
Separately, a "violating" supertanker that was crossing the Strait of Hormuz using the unauthorized route south of the waterway has been hit and is burning, the semi-official Fars news agency reported Thursday night.
The vessel, capable of carrying 2.5 million barrels of oil, was struck 8 km off Oman's coast, the report said.
The incident was also reported by the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) in a statement published Thursday night on its website.
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The UKMTO said it "has received a third-party report of a tanker being struck by an unknown projectile while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, resulting in a fire", adding, "Crew have been reported safe, damage assessment and environmental impact is unknown at time of report."
Fars cited Iran's Persian Gulf Strait Authority, the body responsible for maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, as saying on Thursday that several oil tankers were struck in the waterway over the past days, of which the last three ones are owned or rented by the United Arab Emirates.
