USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier will soon leave the Middle East, according to Washington Post

BEIRUT — The American aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, one of three present in the Middle East, will leave the region "in the coming days" to return to its home port in Virginia, several officials told the Washington Post. This comes as negotiations for an agreement between Washington and Tehran are stagnating and U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to be briefed later in the day on new military options to put pressure on Iran.

The end of this deployment, after ten months, should bring relief for the 4,500 sailors aboard the carrier, the only one of the three deployed in the Red Sea, while the USS George H.W. Bush and the USS Abraham Lincoln operate in the Arabian Sea to enforce the American blockade targeting ships carrying oil or goods from Iranian ports.

The USS Ford has required several repairs during its more than 300 days of deployment in the Middle East, including after a fire and plumbing problems. Normally, carrier deployments last six to seven months to adhere to maintenance cycles, the Washington Post notes, but the Ford has been deployed since June 2025, first in Europe and then to the Caribbean, amid the American blockade of oil exports from Venezuela, before ultimately being sent to the Middle East.

A week ago, the Washington Post reported that more than 4,000 additional American troops, belonging to the "Boxer" amphibious group and to the task force and the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, are expected to be deployed to the Middle East in the coming weeks. Throughout the cease-fire between Iran and the United States announced on April 7, the U.S. military has continually redeployed and resupplied its naval and air forces in anticipation of potential future operations. "The military is ready to resume strikes if ordered," an American official told the paper on condition of anonymity at the time.