Trump orders second aircraft carrier to Middle East amid Iran tensions

President Trump ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group to deploy to the Middle East on February 13, 2026, joining the USS Abraham Lincoln already on station. Trump confirmed the deployment publicly, stating the Ford would leave the Caribbean shortly and position in the Mediterranean. The two-carrier posture was the most substantial US naval buildup in the region since the 2003 Iraq War and was explicitly tied to pressure on Iran over nuclear negotiations.