More than 2,200 U.S. Marines based in Okinawa Prefecture and an amphibious assault ship homeported in Nagasaki Prefecture are heading to the Middle East, as the United States and Israel’s war against Iran enters its third week, media reports said Friday.
The U.S. military is sending the roughly 2,200-strong 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit and USS Tripoli amphibious assault ship, homeported in Sasebo in Nagasaki Prefecture, to the region as Iran ramps up attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial artery for oil shipping.
The Tripoli, which carries a squadron of F-35 fighters, V-22 Ospreys and helicopters, is the command ship of a Marine Amphibious Ready Group, which includes two other vessels. It was not immediately clear if the two other ships would also be heading to the Middle East.
Questioned about the reports by The Japan Times, a Pentagon official declined to confirm the deployment, citing “operations security.”
The voyage was likely to take between one and two weeks.
The move is likely to raise already growing concerns that the U.S. military could be shifting its focus from the Indo-Pacific to the Middle East, following the reported commandeering of multiple Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system launchers from South Korea to defend against Iranian attacks.
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The dispatch of the marines and assault ship, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, citing unidentified U.S. defense officials, came as President Donald Trump said the U.S. had bombed military targets on Kharg Island, a critical Iranian outpost in the Persian Gulf.
In a post to social media Friday, Trump threatened additional strikes targeting oil infrastructure on the island if Tehran continued to block the flow of energy through the Strait of Hormuz.
“For reasons of decency, I have chosen NOT to wipe out the Oil Infrastructure on the Island,” he wrote. “However, should Iran, or anyone else, do anything to interfere with the Free and Safe Passage of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz, I will immediately reconsider this decision.”
The U.S. president also suggested earlier in the day that the U.S. Navy would begin escorting ships through the waterway "very soon.”
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday that the navy — perhaps with an international coalition — would escort vessels through the Strait of Hormuz “as soon as it is militarily possible.”
The talk of an international coalition has emerged less than a week before Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is set to meet Trump in Washington, her first visit as Japanese leader. Speculation has grown that Trump could ask Takaichi to send the Self-Defense Forces to help escort tankers through the Strait of Hormuz or engage in minesweeping operations there.
Washington could request support from Tokyo under Japan’s 2015 security legislation and the allies’ defense-cooperation guidelines — though Takaichi and other Japanese officials have said the hurdles to doing so are high.
Japan imports over 90% of its oil from the Middle East, making the country especially vulnerable to the Strait of Hormuz’s de facto closure.
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