USS George Washington prepares in Arabian Sea for escalating war with Islamic Republic

US forces deployed in the Arabian Sea are preparing for a possible escalation of the war with the Islamic Republic. In recent days the aircraft carrier USS George Washington and its escorting destroyers have received a large shipment of long-range missiles for land targets and bunker-buster bombs for fortified facilities, details that Wall Street Journal reporters saw during a rare visit to the carrier and a guided-missile destroyer and published on Saturday, 24 October 2026.

US officials say that if Donald Trump orders a new attack on the Islamic Republic, preparations for an escalation of the conflict will be carried out in the coming weeks. They have stressed that no decision to attack has been made yet, and the Pentagon says its job is to prepare military options for the president. According to these officials, Trump has said no attack will take place before the 3 November midterm elections.

Carrier commander: we are ready to respond immediately

Captain Nicholas DeLeo, commander of the USS George Washington, said the ship's crew is always ready, keeps watch on its surroundings and is prepared for an immediate response or pre-emptive action. A few days earlier he had also said the Islamic Republic had tried to target various types of ships near the Strait of Hormuz, but none of these attempts had succeeded.

The main mission of the George Washington, which has been deployed in the Arabian Sea since August, is to enforce the naval blockade of the Islamic Republic's oil, escort tankers and provide air support. According to reports, with the dispatch of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, about 10,000 more troops will arrive in the region, and the number of US aircraft carriers in the region will rise to three.

Background: threats and signs of a new round of war

These preparations come as Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkey, spoke on Friday of the possibility of a US attack on the Islamic Republic, and Donald Trump said in Florida that another operation against the Islamic Republic is possible unless Tehran agrees to a deal. The Islamic Republic, for its part, has threatened that if the war resumes it will target undersea communication cables and civilian targets in the Persian Gulf states.

Sending bunker-buster bombs to the USS George Washington shows that the option of striking the Islamic Republic's fortified facilities is serious.