Navy sends Roosevelt to Middle East amid continuing Iran war

The aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt departed San Diego on Sunday for a deployment expected to last more than seven months, with the Navy preparing to sustain its presence in the Middle East as the war with Iran continues.

Roosevelt is expected to relieve the Japan-based aircraft carrier USS George Washington, which was sent to the region last month following reports of mental health concerns, including suicide attempts, aboard USS Abraham Lincoln.

The Navy confirmed Tuesday that the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group was conducting routine operations in the U.S. 3rd Fleet area of operations. It did not provide additional details, citing operational security, but added that there were 5,000 sailors assigned to ships and aircraft in the group. 

Roosevelt’s departure was first reported by The San Diego Union-Tribune and the online ship watcher @WarshipCam.

Roosevelt’s departure came as new details emerged about an Iranian missile attack that injured eight Marines in the Strait of Hormuz earlier this month.

The Marines were injured Sept. 14 in an Iranian anti-ship cruise missile attack on an unidentified vessel transiting the strait, NBC News reported Monday. The vessel was not a Navy ship, it added.

The service members suffered smoke inhalation and potentially traumatic brain injuries in the attack, according to the report, which cited three unidentified U.S. officials.

The Marines were operating as part of a battalion landing team at the time, the officials said, though it is unclear what mission they were carrying out aboard the vessel.

The Pentagon did not disclose the injuries at the time, adding them only Wednesday to an online casualty database, according to the report. So far, 19 service members have died and 861 have been wounded in action during the Iran war, which began in late February.

U.S. Central Command did not immediately respond Monday to an email seeking to confirm the accuracy of the NBC report.

News of the casualties comes amid U.S. efforts to increase the flow of oil through the strait and enforce a maritime blockade against Iranian ports.

On Wednesday, CENTCOM said that its forces had redirected 115 commercial ships as part of the blockade. Meanwhile, U.S. forces have facilitated the transit of more than 1 billion barrels of crude oil through the strait over the past couple months, Adm. Brad Cooper, CENTCOM commander, said Sept. 19.

It’s unclear exactly how U.S. forces are helping to keep oil moving or what type of coordinated protection they are providing.

Analysts told Stars and Stripes earlier this month that U.S. helicopters, fighter jets and surface drones likely are providing protective cover against Iranian drones and missiles as tankers travel the strait during nighttime convoys.

In addition to Washington, the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush also is operating in the Arabian Sea. The carriers are among some 15 Navy ships, including the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group, operating in the sea, according to the latest USNI News fleet tracker.

Four Navy destroyers and a cruiser also are operating in the Indian Ocean, with six other warships in the Red and eastern Mediterranean seas, according to the USNI report.

President Donald Trump on Saturday announced he was rejecting an Iranian cease fire deal that would have have re-opened the strait and restarted peace talks with Tehran.

Later, Trump said he expected that talks with Iran would resume this week. Indirect talks were anticipated as soon as Monday, Axios reported.

Despite Trump’s public rejection of the plan, the Iranian foreign minster on Sunday said his country was still waiting for an official U.S. response, The New York Times reported.

There have been no confirmed attacks or disruptions to shipping in the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz or the Gulf of Oman in the past 72 hours, the U.S.-led Joint Maritime Information Center said Sunday.

CENTCOM pushed back Monday against claims that Iran has full control of the Strait of Hormuz, saying the waterway remains open as evidenced by the thousands of ships that have transited through it over the last few months.