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The Pentagon sends a Navy carrier group and a Marine unit into the region
October 2, 2026
The US is sending a carrier strike group and a Marine unit to the Middle East, which Fox News says adds about 10,000 sailors and Marines by November.
The US and Iran have been at war for seven months, a conflict that began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28.
Fox News reports that US officials confirmed on Thursday that the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit is headed to the Middle East alongside a carrier strike group led by the USS Theodore Roosevelt. By its account, the two deployments put about 10,000 sailors and Marines into the region by the end of November, with the carrier group alone holding about 6,000 sailors.
Fox News places the deployment inside a wider war with Iran. It reports that Tehran is readying a broader response should the US resume large-scale attacks, while Iran reviews a US reply to its proposal to revive the collapsed Gulf ceasefire. On energy, Fox News reports that oil prices rose more than $4 a barrel, and it carries a post from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent: “Iran loaded ZERO crude oil onto tankers in September,” wrote Bessent. Fox News also carries remarks from President Donald Trump defending the war. Trump said, “And I said, 'Fellas, I'm sorry to do this to you, but we have to put out the fire in the Middle East because they'll blow up Israel, they'll blow up the Middle East, and then they're going to start hitting us and Europe.'.”
The deployment itself is corroborated across the coverage. What Iran does next, and whether talks over the ceasefire hold, is still developing.
Still developing
The diplomacy over the Gulf ceasefire, which collapsed and which Iran's latest proposal would revive, was still forming as of the time of this draft.
How settled the reporting is
Sources
- Fox News — US deploys thousands more troops, Marines to Middle East as oil prices surge
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