US is sending second aircraft carrier to the Middle East to coerce Iran

The United States will send the world’s largest aircraft carrier to the Middle East to back up another already there, a person familiar with the plans said on Friday, putting more American firepower behind US President Donald Trump’s efforts to coerce Iran into a deal over its nuclear programme.

The USS Gerald R. Ford’s planned deployment to the Middle East comes after Trump only days earlier suggested another round of talks with the Iranians was at hand. Those negotiations did not materialise as one of Tehran’s top security officials visited Oman and Qatar this week and exchanged messages with the US intermediaries.

Already, Gulf Arab nations have warned any attack could spiral into another regional conflict in a Middle East still reeling from the Israel-Gaza war.

Meanwhile, Iranians were beginning to hold 40-day mourning ceremonies for the thousands killed in Tehran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests last month, adding to the internal pressure faced by the sanctions-battered Islamic Republic.

The Ford’s deployment, first reported by The New York Times, would put two carriers and their accompanying warships in the region. Already, the USS Abraham Lincoln and its accompanying guided-missile destroyers are in the Arabian Sea.

The person who spoke to Associated Press on the deployment did so on condition of anonymity to discuss military movements.