San Diego-based USS Makin Island prepares for Middle East deployment

A San Diego-based U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship is preparing for deployment with Marines from Camp Pendleton as tensions with Iran escalate on multiple fronts. Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao told a House subcommittee Tuesday that the 843-foot USS Makin Island is gearing up to deploy.

He did not specify the size of the Marine contingent or when the ship would depart San Diego. The mission could position the group in operations tied to the U.S. standoff with Iran. The amphibious assault ship, which carries advanced F-35 fighter jets, has recently been training in local waters alongside the USS Somerset and USS San Diego.

Those vessels are routine partners in a three-ship amphibious ready group.

Recent movements of other Navy units Roughly two months after the USS Boxer Amphibious Ready Group left San Diego with about 2,200 Camp Pendleton Marines, that unit has been operating in the South China Sea. The U.S. Naval Institute reported Monday that the Boxer is now heading toward the Middle East.

Trump said the United States could resume military strikes on Iran if no peace agreement is reached. He described the current ceasefire as barely holding together. “I would say the ceasefire is on massive life support … when the doctor walks in and says, ‘Sir, your loved one has approximately a 1 percent chance of living,’” he told reporters in the Oval Office.

” Iranian officials pushed back against the statements. ” He warned of retaliation if hostilities resume. Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested during an interview that Iran may have accidentally struck a vessel carrying Chinese cargo in the Strait of Hormuz.

Rubio also called for China to take a more active role in pressuring Iran to reopen the strategic waterway. Trump was in China on Wednesday for a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, where the situation was expected to be discussed. He also said he is considering setting a “red line” that would determine when the ceasefire is officially ended.