The Pentagon is reportedly moving a Marine Expeditionary Unit and additional warships to the Middle East, as the war with Iran continues. The move, reported by The Wall Street Journal, will help respond to the Iranian campaign of attacks against shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. So far, Tehran has remained committed to its pledge of paralyzing oil tanker traffic through the strategic waterway.
The WSJ reports that U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has approved a request from U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) for an element of an Amphibious Ready Group and attached Marine Expeditionary Unit, citing three U.S. officials. An Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) typically includes an assault ship, two transport docks, and a support vessel that carries an embarked Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) of at least 2,200 Marines.
Two of those officials said that the ARG would be centered around the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli, said to be now headed for the Middle East from its normal base in Japan.
It’s possible other Amphibious Ready Groups could also deploy to the Middle East, if called upon.
A Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) is a highly versatile, self-sustained, rapid-response force. Embarked aboard amphibious assault and landing ships, each MEU has fully integrated air, ground, and logistics components. Its four key elements are as follows:
Command Element: Serves as the headquarters for the entire unit and allows a single command to exercise control over all ground, aviation, and combat service support forces.
Ground Combat Element: Provides the MEU with its main combat punch. Built around a Marine infantry battalion, and reinforced with artillery, amphibious vehicles, engineers, and reconnaissance assets.
Aviation Combat Element: The ACE consists of a composite medium helicopter squadron containing transport helicopters of various models and capabilities, attack helicopters and jets, air defense teams, and all necessary ground support assets.
Logistics Combat Element: Providing the MEU with mission-essential support such as medical assistance, motor transport, supply, equipment maintenance, and landing.
A MEU would bring a wide range of capabilities to the fight. This can include additional aircraft to strike targets inland, including F-35Bs, and to execute sea control missions, going after Iranian small boats for instance. The latter can be done by embarked AH-1Z and UH-1Y helicopters, as well as F-35Bs. Then there is the assault component, with the ability to airlift Marines anywhere within the reach of its rotary wing component, which also includes MV-22s and CH-53s. The Aviation Combat Element can be tailored to the mission. This can include loading the deck with F-35s or putting a much higher priority on air assault capabilities. The USS Tripoli, which is aviation-focused and lacks a well deck, is specifically built for this kind of augmented air combat element, including being turned into a F-35 “Lighting Carrier.” You can read all about this here.
The MEU can also support beach landing and heavy surface logistical support. The Expeditionary Strike Group (ESG) that makes up the entire flotilla also includes surface combatant escorts that can lend their Aegis capabilities to the fight and launch Tomahawks on demand.
While the carrier strike groups get the most attention for their ability to hit hard from a distance, the MEU/ESG is truly America’s most versatile maritime capability.
In other news, in his latest update on the war on Iran, Secretary Hegseth claims that Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has been “wounded and likely disfigured” in the ongoing U.S.-Israeli attacks. The defense secretary also pushed back on claims that Iran has begun mining the Strait of Hormuz as it continues its campaign against international shipping in the strategic chokepoint.
In a press conference today, the defense secretary said, “We know the new so-called not-so-supreme leader is wounded and likely disfigured. He put out a statement yesterday — a weak one, actually — but there was no voice, and there was no video. It was a written statement.”
As to why a written statement was issued, and Mojtaba Khamenei didn’t appear in person, Hegseth added: “I think you know why.”
Hegseth also promised that today will see the highest number of U.S. strikes so far against Iranian targets.
“Their production lines, their military plants, their defense innovation centers; defeated,” Hegseth claimed. “Iran’s leadership is in no better shape. Desperate and hiding, they’ve gone underground, cowering — that’s what rats do.”
Hegseth said the Iranian regime will only see the stars and stripes of the United States and Israel’s star of David, which he describes as “their worst nightmare.”
In the Strait of Hormuz, Hegseth said that the U.S. military is “dealing with” Iran’s attacks on shipping, and that this is not something it needs to be worried about.
Hegseth dismissed suggestions that Iran has mined the strait, through which around a fifth of the world’s oil passes.
“We’ve heard them talk about it just like you’ve reported recklessly and wildly about it. But … we have no clear evidence of that,” he explained.
Asked when the Strait of Hormuz might become operational again, Hegseth said: “The only thing prohibiting traffic in the strait at the moment is Iran shooting at shipping.” He said that the United States “has a plan for every option” and that it will not allow the strait to remain “contested.”
According to a report in The New York Times, at least 16 oil tankers, cargo vessels, and other commercial ships have been attacked in the Persian Gulf since the war against Iran began nearly two weeks ago.
Iran has claimed responsibility for several of the attacks. Hegseth also criticized as “bad reporting” the suggestion that Iran could launch a drone attack on California.
“There’s a lot of things Iran has said it could do for a long time, including engaging their proxies and getting them involved in the fight, which they haven’t been able to do. So, we’re watching that very closely,” he said.
Citing multiple sources familiar with the matter, CNN reports that the Pentagon and National Security Council “significantly underestimated” Iran’s willingness to close the Strait of Hormuz in response to U.S. military strikes while Operation Epic Fury was being planned.
The headline in the Hezbollah-linked Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar this morning reads: “Iran Activates the Hormuz Weapon. Going All the Way.”
In an interview with Fox News, U.S. President Donald Trump said that the U.S. military planned on hitting Iran “very hard” over the next week. A similar comment was posted on Trump’s Truth Social today, in which he said: “Watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today. They’ve been killing innocent people all over the world for 47 years, and now I, as the 47th President of the United States of America, am killing them,” he wrote. “What a great honor it is to do so!”
Gen. Dan Caine, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, today commented on the use of the new Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) short-range ballistic missile, which he confirmed saw its combat debut in the operation against Iran.
Caine said that the PrSM “reaching deep into enemy territory”. He said he spoke to one member of the crew of the system. “I asked him to walk me through a fire mission, not just what they do but what they feel,” he explained. “One of them just looked at me and said: ‘It’s awesome.’”
According to Caine, the U.S. military has hit 6,000 targets so far. In the process, Iran’s naval forces have been rendered “ineffective,” although Tehran still has the capability to harm “friendly forces” and commercial shipping.
This morning, another three U.S. Air Force B-52H bombers arrived at RAF Fairford in England. There are now six B-52s at the base, alongside 12 B-1B Lancers. Reports from the ground indicate that GBU-31 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) equipped with BLU-109 2,000-lb bunker buster warheads continue to be prepared for strikes on Iran.
Air defenses in the United Arab Emirates intercepted 27 drones and seven ballistic missiles today, the UAE defense ministry said. Since the start of the conflict, UAE air defenses have shot down 285 ballistic missiles, 15 cruise missiles, and 1,567 drones heading toward their territory.
In Oman, two people were killed today after air defenses intercepted a drone over the Al Awahi industrial area, according to state media. The drone was one of two that were shot by air defences on Friday, but the second one did not cause any injuries.
The Israeli military has launched a new campaign across Iran, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said today.
The IDF said its most recent wave of strikes included targets in Tehran, Shiraz, and Ahvaz. The IDF had earlier issued evacuation warnings for parts of Tehran and Qazvin, northwest of the capital.
Iranian state TV today reported explosions heard across Tehran.
It appears that at least some of the strikes on the capital may have been deliberately timed to coincide with large-scale demonstrations against Israel and the United States, which have also involved some key regime figures.
Speaking yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had reportedly said that one of the Israeli goals of the war is to create the conditions for regime change, rather than forcing it directly. Whether regime change is achieved depends on the Iranian people, Netanyahu reportedly asserted.
President Trump has also urged Iranians to take to the streets once the bombing stops, but has also acknowledged that it will be very difficult for them to overthrow the regime.
“I really think that’s a big hurdle to climb for people that don’t have weapons. I think it’s a very big hurdle… It’ll happen, but… maybe not immediately,” Trump told Fox News Radio.
Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice added her thoughts on the matter of regime change, noting that this was always very hard to achieve from the air, “and it is also very hard to shape the politics afterwards from the air.”
Dubai has also been on the receiving end of Iranian attacks. There were reports of in Dubai, where videos posted to social media showed a large cloud of smoke over a central area of the financial hub. Authorities there confirmed a fire in an industrial area.
Israel continues fighting on a second front in Iran, with the latest targets including the Zrarieh Bridge spanning the Litani River.
Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz vowed today that the Lebanese government “will pay increasing costs through damage to infrastructure and loss of territory” until Hezbollah is disarmed. “This is only the beginning,” Katz said, according to a report from Reuters.
NATO air and missile defence assets have shot down another Iranian missile fired into Turkish airspace, Turkey’s defense ministry confirmed today. “All necessary measures are being taken decisively and without hesitation against any threat directed at our country’s territory and airspace,” the ministry said in a statement.
The video below purports to show the Iranian ballistic missile over Incirlik Air Base in Turkey.
According to Jake Epstein of Business Insider, the Iranian ballistic missile was brought down by the Arleigh Burke class destroyer USS Oscar Austin, using a Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) anti-missile interceptor. This is said to be the third time in the last two weeks that a U.S. Navy destroyer has used SM-3s to intercept an Iranian missile in Turkish airspace. SM-3 series interceptors are capable of engaging ballistic missiles outside of the Earth’s atmosphere during the mid-course portion of their flight.
French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed the first French military death of the war. He said that said a French soldier had been killed in an attack in Erbil in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region. Several other soldiers were wounded, he said. French Army soldiers had been engaged in training with Iraqi partners during the drone attack in the region.
Yesterday, Reuters reported that at least six French soldiers were wounded in a drone attack targeting a joint Peshmerga-French base in the Makhmour area of Iraq.
Reports out of India suggest that New Delhi is set to repatriate the 183 crew members of the Iranian naval vessel IRIS Lavan as early as today. The sailors had been in the Indian port of Kochi since the Iranian amphibious vessel docked there on March 4 as tensions in the Middle East escalated.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) office has provided an update on an incident in which a cargo vessel was reported to have been hit by an unknown projectile in the Strait of Hormuz, which resulted in a fire onboard. The incident is said to have occurred 11 nautical miles north of Oman. The vessel had requested assistance, and the crew was previously said to be evacuating the vessel. While the fire onboard the vessel has been extinguished, as of today, at least some of the crew remain unlocated.
Footage has emerged showing the demise of the unique KC-747 aircraft formerly used by the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) during an attack on Mehrabad Air Base last week. The tanker version of the 747 was not flown anywhere else in the world, and Iran had just one flying example. You can read all about the aircraft in this past article.
An unnamed IDF official talking to the Israeli N12 news channel provided their assessment of the interdiction campaign against Iranian missile launchers.
“We destroyed between 160 and 190 launchers, disabled another 200, and around 150 remain active,” the official claimed, noting that the United States “didn’t believe we would succeed in the decapitation strike.”
Noteworthy, however, is an assessment from Bloomberg today, which states that the number of Iranian missile launchers has held steady after a week of unrelenting airstrikes, based on Israeli and Western estimates. “Finding the vehicles in such a large country, especially when some airspace is still dangerous for U.S. and Israeli aircraft, poses a huge challenge,” the article says.
There are rumors that the Iranian missile attack on Ali Al Salem Air Base last week may have destroyed three Kuwait Air Force Typhoon fighters that were based there. This remains unverified at this stage, although satellite evidence confirms that the facility was struck.
Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com
