US reportedly sends third carrier group to Middle East — CNBC

According to CNBC, the United States is sending a third carrier strike group to the Middle East along with amphibious forces that include 2,000 Marines. The deployment is taking place amid the eighth month of the war between the United States and Iran.

Transfer of US forces

A US official told Al Jazeera that the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group and Makin Island forces had left San Diego. As The Wall Street Journal wrote, the full buildup of the US military presence will likely be completed in November.

According to the newspaper, US President Donald Trump told advisers that he expects to resume bombing Iran in November, after the midterm elections. Indirect talks between Washington and Tehran have reached a dead end, CNBC reported: the United States rejected Iran's proposal to restore the operation of the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for lifting the US blockade.

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Sanctions and incidents

On October 1, the US Treasury Department expanded sanctions against Iran's automotive and railway sectors. The restrictions targeted state railway companies and suppliers in the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Turkey, and Indonesia, as well as the A7 financial network, which the department links to Russia and Iran's evasion of sanctions.

On the same day, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations reported that a tanker in the Strait of Hormuz was hit by an unidentified projectile. A fire broke out aboard the vessel, while the crew was reportedly safe.

A Saudi Arabia-led coalition also accused Iran-backed Houthis of a drone attack on the Taibah electricity distribution station in Medina, which supplies electricity to the Prophet's Mosque. Coalition spokesperson Turki al-Maliki said one transformer was disabled as a result of the strike, but the broader power grid remained intact. A Houthi spokesperson called the claims false.