What military assets does the US have in the Middle East?

South China Morning Post · Feb 28, 2026 · Collected from RSS

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The massive US military presence in the Middle East, including warships, fighter jets and refuelling aircraft, lays the foundation for a major campaign against Iran.Here we examine key US military assets deployed in the region, after Washington launched strikes that President Donald Trump said were targeting Tehran’s naval and missile forces.ShipsWashington currently has more than a dozen warships in the Middle East, including aircraft carrier the USS Abraham Lincoln operating in the Arabian Sea, nine destroyers and three littoral (near the coast) combat ships.The USS Gerald R. Ford – the world’s largest carrier – is deployed in the Mediterranean Sea along with several more destroyers. The carrier took on food, fuel and ammunition at Souda Bay on the island of Crete earlier this week, then left port on Thursday.Satellite imagery showed it several hundred miles west of the Israeli port of Haifa the following day.Both carriers are crewed by thousands of sailors and have air wings comprised of dozens of warplanes. It is rare to have two of the massive warships in the Middle East at the same time.The USS Gerald Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, docked on the Greek island of Crete on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

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