{"id":926,"date":"2026-02-13T08:08:41","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T08:08:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/?p=926"},"modified":"2026-02-13T08:08:45","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T08:08:45","slug":"us-aircraft-carrier-uss-gerald-r-ford-to-join-middle-east-naval-forces-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/13\/us-aircraft-carrier-uss-gerald-r-ford-to-join-middle-east-naval-forces-report\/","title":{"rendered":"US aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to join Middle East naval forces: Report"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-post-excerpt\"><p class=\"wp-block-post-excerpt__excerpt\">USS Gerald R. Ford strike group to reinforce USS Abraham Lincoln in Persian Gulf amid US pressure on Iran <\/p><\/div>\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/haber.aa.com.tr\/#\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/haber.aa.com.tr\/#\"><\/a>By Asiye Latife Yilmaz<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>ISTANBUL (AA) &#8211; The USS Gerald R. Ford and its escort ships, currently in the Caribbean, will be redeployed to the Middle East and are unlikely to return home until late April or early May, according to the New York Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed alignleft is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">US President Donald Trump threatens Iran with \u201cvery traumatic\u201d consequences if it fails to make a nuclear deal, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was skeptical about the quality of any such agreement. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/NjZrfK5gGo\">pic.twitter.com\/NjZrfK5gGo<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AlArabiya_Eng\/status\/2022212977290600610?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 13, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Four US officials, speaking to the newspaper on condition of anonymity, said the ship\u2019s crew was notified of the decision on Thursday, following the latest meeting between President Donald Trump and Zionist Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trump has threatened Iran with \u201cvery traumatic\u201d consequences if it fails to make a nuclear deal, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was sceptical about the quality of any such agreement, according to Al Arabiya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trump has intimated that he would prefer a negotiated solution, but his jack-boot approach may not work with Iran as it has in Venuzuela.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Ford strike group will join the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Persian Gulf to support US President Donald Trump\u2019s intensified pressure on Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trump had previously called for a second carrier in the region, though the ship was not specified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The US president warned last month that a massive \u201carmada\u201d was heading toward Iran, urging Tehran to reach an agreement or &#8220;the next attack will be far worse.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trump said the fleet approaching Iran, led by the US aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, is larger than the one previously sent to Venezuela and described it as \u201cready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The USS Gerald R. Ford left Norfolk, Va., on June 24 for a deployment that was originally planned as a European tour, but it was rerouted to the Caribbean to support Trump\u2019s campaign of pressure on Venezuela.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Ford\u2019s aircraft was involved in the Jan. 3 operation in Venezuela that resulted in President Nicolas Maduro\u2019s capture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Originally scheduled to return in early March, the strike group\u2019s deployment has now been extended. The latest delay will put Ford\u2019s planned dry dock period in Virginia, set for major repairs and upgrades, at risk, according to the report. &#8211; Anadulo Agency<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><em>USS Gerald R. Ford strike group to reinforce USS Abraham Lincoln in Persian Gulf amid US pressure on Iran<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[65,15,23,24,18],"class_list":{"0":"post-926","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-conflict-zones","8":"tag-iran","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-trump","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-zionist"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=926"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":929,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/926\/revisions\/929"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}