WASHINGTON : The Pentagon has ordered an additional aircraft carrier strike group to prepare for deployment to the Middle East as the Trump administration signals possible military action should nuclear negotiations with Iran collapse, multiple U.S. officials told the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday .
Three U.S. officials confirmed that preparations are underway for a second carrier to join the USS Abraham Lincoln, which is already operating in the Arabian Sea under U.S. Central Command . The USS George H.W. Bush, currently completing exercises off the Virginia coast, is the leading candidate and could depart within weeks if ordered .
Officials stressed that President Donald Trump has not yet issued a formal deployment order, and plans remain fluid . However, one official stated the strike group could receive sailing orders within hours .
The move follows Oman-mediated talks last week between Washington and Tehran—their first diplomatic engagement since U.S. and Israeli airstrikes struck Iranian nuclear facilities last June . A second round has not yet been scheduled.
Trump told Israeli media Tuesday that the United States would be forced to do “something very tough” if a deal is not reached .
“Either we reach a deal or we’ll have to do something very tough,” he told Channel 12, later referencing the June strikes as “Midnight Hammer” .
The president raised the possibility of a second carrier during his nearly three-hour White House meeting Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is pressing for any agreement to include curbs on Iran’s ballistic missile program—a red line Tehran has declared non-negotiable .
Satellite imagery analyzed by Reuters shows a significant U.S. military buildup across the region, including missiles loaded onto truck launchers at Qatar’s al-Udeid base, the largest American facility in the Middle East .
Following the meeting, Trump posted on X that “nothing definitive was reached” beyond his insistence that negotiations continue, adding: “If it cannot, we will just have to see what the outcome will be” .
