Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth orders deployment of additional warplanes in the Middle East as tensions with Iran and the Houthis escalate.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has deployed additional warplanes to reinforce the Pentagon’s naval assets in the Middle East, the Pentagon said in a statement on Tuesday.
The statement did mention specific aircraft, but US officials who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity stated that at least four B-2 bombers have relocated to a US-British military base on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia, close enough to reach Yemen or Iran.
Hegseth has also ordered the Carl Vinson carrier strike group to the region, which will arrive in the region after completing exercises in the Indo-Pacific, according to Bloomberg.
The Department is also prolonging the Harry S. Truman carrier strike group’s deployment in the region, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said.
The two carriers will “continue promoting regional stability, deter aggression, and protect the free flow of commerce in the region,” added Parnell.
The statement comes as the US continues to strike Houthi targets in Yemen, having officially launched an operation against the Iran-backed rebels last month.
US President Donald Trump recently stated that the Houthis would be “completely annihilated” and added that Iranian support would only impede but not stop the Houthis’ destruction.
Trump later said that the Houthis now want peace because the US attacks on them have been very successful, while stressing that those strikes will continue for a very long time.
The Pentagon statement also comes amid tensions with Iran, after Trump warned Iran on Sunday that “if they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing — and it will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before.”
In response, Iran’s state-controlled Iranian newspaper Tehran Times wrote in a post on X that Iran’s missiles are “loaded onto launchers in all underground missile cities and are ready for launch.” Later, Trump again threatened Iran, saying he could consider imposing secondary tariffs on Iran should the Islamic Republic fail to agree to a deal on its nuclear program.
On Monday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Trump against any attack on Iran, saying that if the US follows through on its threats, it will receive a “strong blow.”
