USS Abraham Lincoln and Carrier Air Wing 9 transit in formation in the Arabian Sea, Feb. 6, 2026. A third Navy aircraft carrier strike group and additional minesweepers are headed to the Middle East to enforce a U.S. blockade against Iran and wrest away control of the Strait of Hormuz. (Jesse Monford/U.S. Navy)
NAPLES, Italy — A third Navy aircraft carrier strike group and additional minesweepers are headed to the Middle East to enforce a U.S. blockade against Iran and wrest away control of a critical oil artery, the Strait of Hormuz.
The impending arrival of about six more ships will put at least 27 Navy vessels — roughly 41% of the service’s ships actively deployed and operating at sea worldwide — in the region, according to a Stars and Stripes analysis of USNI News Fleet Tracker data.
The additional forces — on top of at least 21 Navy warships and more than 16,500 sailors and Marines already in the region — would give commanders greater flexibility in enforcing the U.S. blockade, aimed at throttling Iran’s economy and forcing its leadership to curb its nuclear program.
It also will offer the support required to confront Iranian mines and other asymmetric threats as the U.S. seeks to assure safe passage for tankers and other ships in the strait, according to the Navy’s top officer.
“You just have to think about this from a multidimensional problem set,” Adm. Daryl Caudle, chief of naval operations, said Monday during an event hosted by the Atlantic Council. “That’s a tough challenge.”
Last week, Iran and the U.S. agreed to a two-week pause in the fighting, setting up a round of weekend negotiations in Pakistan. But those talks fell apart amid disputes after both sides accused the other of making excessive demands.
Shortly after, President Donald Trump announced the U.S. would begin blockading all ships in the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. Central Command later clarified that its forces would begin implementing a blockade this week against all ships entering or exiting Iranian ports.
During five weeks of open warfare, Iran launched repeated retaliations on American bases and partners in the region after initial strikes Feb. 28 by the U.S. and Israel that killed a number of top Iranian leaders.
Tehran’s reprisals also included measures that in effect closed the Strait of Hormuz to commercial traffic.
The U.S.-Iran truce ends April 21.
Analysts estimate that the Navy needs at least two aircraft carriers, more than a dozen destroyers and other support in the Persian Gulf to effectively implement the dual U.S. strategy of enforcing the blockade and reopening the strait to ships.
The U.S. blockade, which went into effect Monday, will be enforced in the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea east of the Strait of Hormuz, according to a copy of a notice to mariners obtained by a naval and shipping expert and referenced in a podcast posted on X.
The notice also specified that the blockade “encompasses the entirety of the Iranian coast” and wasn’t limited to ports and oil terminals. It laid out several other conditions, including those for passage of humanitarian aid.
Two Navy destroyers transited the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday as part of a broader mission to ensure that the waterway was fully clear of sea mines, according to CENTCOM.
On Monday, the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush, along with Carrier Air Wing 7 and some 5,000 sailors and personnel, was operating along the southwestern coast of Africa, according to USNI.
The aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush departs Naval Station Norfolk, Va., for a regularly scheduled deployment, March 31, 2026. A third Navy aircraft carrier strike group and additional minesweepers are headed to the Middle East to enforce a U.S. blockade against Iran and wrest away control of the Strait of Hormuz. (Jayden Brown/U.S. Navy)
The extended route into the CENTCOM area of operations allows the carrier and presumably its escorts — the destroyers USS Mason, USS Ross and USS Donald Cook — to avoid transiting the Suez Canal into the Red Sea under potential threat of Iran-backed Houthi militants.
Bush reportedly was expected to take a more direct route in the Middle East, transiting the Strait of Gibraltar and into the Mediterranean Sea.
Meanwhile, two Avenger-class mine countermeasure ships, USS Chief and USS Pioneer, left Singapore on Friday, presumably heading to the Strait of Malacca and into the Indian Ocean, according to a ship watcher.
They join two littoral combat ships with mine countermeasure capabilities that are already in or near the CENTCOM area of operations. A third LCS, USS Santa Barbara, was pierside in Singapore, another ship watcher recently reported.
The Boxer Amphibious Ready Group, including the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, was operating near Guam on Monday, according to USNI. The group reportedly also is headed to the Middle East, but was not included in the earlier count of 27 ships since its destination could not be independently confirmed.
The effort to interdict vessels in the Persian Gulf is risky for U.S. forces, who could encounter booby traps on vessels or be ambushed by Iranian military forces hidden on ships, Sal Mercogliano, an adjunct professor at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, said in a podcast posted Tuesday on X.
The situation becomes even more complicated if an interdiction involved a ship affiliated with China, Mercogliano said.
It’s unlikely that the U.S. wants to interdict and seize ships, he said, adding that the blockade is more likely aimed at forcing Iran to resume negotiations on ending the war.
“I think they would much rather get to the table, negotiate out and open the Strait of Hormuz without coming to action,” Mercogliano said. “But it’s going to require this.”
