The 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) of the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) is currently operating under the authority of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM). This was reported, among others, by the Israeli Jerusalem Post, citing the American news channel Fox News. According to the newspaper, a U.S. source had informed them as early as October 1 that the unit, along with the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and its escort ships, would be deployed to the Middle East. The carrier group is expected to be in the region around the Persian Gulf by the end of November.
Two days earlier, the website of the U.S. Naval Institute reported that the amphibious ready group (Amphibious Ready Group, ARG) around the helicopter carrier USS Makin Island of the Wasp class had quietly departed San Diego. While the Roosevelt is said to replace the carrier USS George Washington, which has been deployed under CENTCOM since August, the Makin-Island-group may be a substitute for the 11th MEU with the ARG around the USS Boxer, which left San Diego at sea in March at the start of the Iran War and was redeployed to the Gulf region.
USMC to Give Trump “More Options” Against Iran
The 31st MEU, which had previously been dispatched from Japan to the Middle East together with the Tripoli group, had already returned to Okinawa in July. It had already been at sea in the Pacific for two months for regular exercises when the American-Israeli airstrikes on Iran did not, as planned, bring down the regime in Tehran, and it received orders to redeploy to give President Donald Trump “more options.”
This formulation was now used again on Fox News with regard to alleged considerations by Trump to resume operations against Iran after the U.S. midterm elections on November 3. Corresponding speculation, fueled by the president’s usual contradictory statements, has been circulating for weeks. During the campaign, which is largely dominated by the economy and living costs, this is at least unlikely.
Netanyahu Pushes for New Attacks, U.S. Voters Oppose
According to other media reports, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who himself faces elections on October 27, urged Trump to pursue new joint attacks as early as this month. While Netanyahu could benefit domestically as a “war prime minister” against the arch-enemy Iran, the ongoing conflict in the United States is, however, highly unpopular—not least because fuel prices have risen sharply due to the disruption of oil exports through the Strait of Hormuz.
Thus the topic stood in two recent polls by Fox News and the Associated Press just behind economic issues in fourth place among the biggest problems, even ahead of the Republicans’ winning topics of immigration and crime. If the opposition Democrats were to gain a majority in one or both chambers of Congress in the midterms, the president’s considerable freedom of action in military operations would be at least indirectly constrained by possible recall resolutions and budget cuts.
Enemy-Recognition Poster Fuels Speculation
The speculation about new attacks and even ground operations against Iran after the elections has recently been fueled, among other things, by a new enemy-recognition poster from the U.S. Army for Iranian soldiers. However, the Army regularly publishes such identification aids for troops of potential adversaries such as China. The current redeployment of the 13th MEU could, as mentioned, simply serve to replace existing forces. “Additional options” through ground troops are now provided, among others, by a Brigade Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division, whose deployment to the region was recently extended to a full year.
The 13th MEU is a typical amphibious air-ground task force (Marine Air-Ground Task Force, MAGTF) of the USMC with a total strength of about 2,000 personnel. It includes Battalion Landing Team 2/4 as the ground element, the Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 364 (Reinforced) and Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 211 as the air component, and Combat Logistics Battalion 13 as the logistics element. The amphibious ready group comprises, besides the USS Makin Island, the dock landing ships USS Anchorage and USS John P. Murtha of the San Antonio class.
