The U.S. military is deploying three more warships and roughly 2,500 more Marines to the Middle East, an official said. One U.S. official confirmed Friday that the USS Boxer and two other amphibious assault ships, along with roughly 2,500 Marines of the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, have deployed from their home port of San Diego and are bound for the Middle East.
Two other U.S. officials confirmed that the ships were deploying, without saying where they were headed. All three officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations.
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With little information coming out of Iran, it was not clear how much damage its arms, nuclear or energy facilities have sustained since the war began Feb. 28 or even who was truly in charge of the country. But Iran has showed it is still capable of attacks that are choking off oil supplies and denting the global economy, raising food and fuel prices far beyond the Middle East.
The U.S. and Israel have offered shifting rationales for the war, from hoping to foment an uprising that topples Iran’s leadership to eliminating its nuclear and missile programs. There have been no public signs of any such uprising and no end in sight to the war.
