The USS Tripoli, an amphibious assault ship of the US Navy, is currently headed to the Middle East amid sustained hostilities with Iran. The deployment comes amid President Donald Trump’s statement that the United States and Iran had held “very good” talks towards ending the three-week Middle East war.
In a social media post that immediately sent oil prices tumbling, Trump said Washington and Tehran had held “productive conversations” over the last two days towards “a complete and total resolution” of hostilities in the Middle East.
Based on the talks, Trump said he had instructed the Pentagon to “postpone any and all military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for a five-day period, subject to the success of the ongoing meetings.”
On February 28, 2026, after the United States and Israel launched joint strikes on Iran. Tehran retaliated with a two-pronged strategy for maximum impact. One, it triggered a region-wide war by attacking Israel, and US bases spread out across the Gulf region; Two, it deliberately enforced a de facto closure of the strategic Strait of Hormuz, sending the oil prices soaring.
Frustrated by the sustained closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the Trump administration signalled that the US could escalate the conflict further before “winding down the war.” Over the weekend, some reports suggested that President Donald Trump is reviewing options that include sending American troops into Iran.
Against that backdrop, the USS America-class amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli and its Amphibious Ready Group (ARG), loaded with elements of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), was ordered to deploy to the Middle East.
With about 2,200 to 2,500 marines on board, the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli has already sailed from its home port in Japan to the Middle East.
USS Tripoli, an America-class amphibious assault ship, is often described as a “lightning carrier” due to its enhanced aviation focus. It is typically accompanied by the ARG composed of USS New Orleans and USS San Diego amphibious transport docks, but it is currently unclear whether these ships are also traveling to the Middle East.
As of March 19, a “unspecified US warship” was last seen leaving Okinawa and navigating through the Strait of Malacca into the Indian Ocean, according to Marinetraffic.com, a website that tracks ships using data from automatic identification systems (AIS).
The deployment of the amphibious attack ship and the Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) comes amid reports that the US is mulling a ground operation to seize Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export hub in the Persian Gulf, according to the Jerusalem Post.
Citing informed sources, the report claims that Washington wants to occupy the island to coerce Iran into opening the strategic strait. A US official also purportedly confirmed that “the US military has accelerated the deployment of thousands of Marines and Navy personnel to the Middle East,” the report added, probably referring to the deployment.
It must be noted that the US military launched coordinated attacks on Kharg Island earlier this month, following which Trump said on social media that, “We have destroyed all military targets on the island.” At the time, the American President emphasised that he had not yet decided to demolish the entire oil infrastructure on the island, but added the caveat that “If Iran thwarts movement in the Strait of Hormuz, I will reconsider.”
Interestingly, USS Tripoli was ordered to redeploy from Japan to the Middle East on March 13, 2026, the same day Kharg was first struck by the US military.
USS Tripoli Headed To The Middle East
Currently, there is no information about the roles the USS Tripoli and the MEU will play in the Iran War. However, we know that a Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) loaded on USS Tripoli is typically an extremely adaptable, self-sufficient, and quick-reaction force.
The four components of an MEU are logistics, air, ground, and command. MEUs have often been employed on missions such as evacuations and amphibious operations, including assaults and raids, that require ship-to-shore movements.
The USS Tripoli and its MEU will join the USS Abraham Lincoln deployed in the region, adding flexibility beyond carrier-based airpower. It would strengthen the overall US war posture near Iran, particularly near the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, which remains closed to international shipping. Further, it would signal readiness for additional escalation and broader involvement, including securing shipping lanes, countering Iranian proxies, or, if needed, conducting limited marine landings.
The deployment would provide more aircraft to carry out maritime control missions, such as pursuing Iranian small boats that are known to have struck tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, and to strike targets inland.
The USS Tripoli could carry 20 F-35B stealth fighters, MV-22 Ospreys with tiltrotors, and attack helicopters for close air support, surveillance, strikes against coastal threats, and rapid troop insertion. It can airlift Marines to any location within its rotary-wing range. Notably, the mission-specific Aviation Combat Element can be customised to prioritise air assault capability or pack the deck with stealthy F-35s.
An amphibious assault ship serves as the flagship of an expeditionary strike group, which also includes surface combatant escorts capable of launching Tomahawk cruise missiles and contributing their Aegis air defence capabilities to the conflict. This would help fend off Iranian attacks while operations are launched, let’s say, near Kharg Island.
The MEU could assist with heavy surface logistics support and beach landings if the US indeed plans to invade Kharg Island. Marines, in general, provide options for raids, evacuations, or holding key sites without committing to occupation. In fact, the US Navy had earlier investigated using its amphibious assault ships as “lightning carriers” to project power in disputed maritime settings.
The MEU’s rapid-response design allows vertical or surface assaults to occupy strategic islands. This could, at least in theory, help create forward bases, neutralise launch points for Iranian threats, and physically control parts of the chokepoint to reopen lanes.
For now, the purpose of USS Tripoli’s deployment to the Middle East is unclear, but it may be linked to plans for establishing a blockade around Kharg Island to end the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Additionally, taking control of the island and depriving the current Iranian government of its most important source of income could serve as a trigger for its overthrow. This would align with the original aim of regime change in the West Asian state.
Following Tripoli, the US had also ordered the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Boxer and its ARG with the 11th MEU to the Middle East.
Nonetheless, challenges persist. It would be difficult for amphibious assault ships to transit through the Strait and into the Gulf, where they would be intensively targeted both en route and once inside.
Experts have noted that while a MEU is intended to establish a beachhead as part of a forward-deployed, quick-reaction force, it would not be sufficient to capture or hold terrain during an extended battle. This is because the island is barely 32 kilometres from the Iranian mainland, making any American forces stationed there extremely vulnerable to attack from Iran despite available defences.
In the short term, a naval blockade of the island could be easier to implement, but it would increase the risk of Iranian attacks, which would likely involve drones, unmanned surface vessels (USVs), and other asymmetric tactics.
Nevertheless, the deployment of USS Tripoli to the Middle East signals a shift toward combined air, ground, and sea control tailored to the region’s geography. Tripoli’s special combination of stealth airpower and expeditionary Marines provides commanders with tools that address the “last mile” challenges of securing a narrow, asymmetric-threat zone that carrier strike groups alone have struggled to fully neutralise.
The precise role USS Tripoli would undertake would likely depend on US plans to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
For now, there is concern that the withdrawal of USS Tripoli, an amphibious assault ship, from Japan creates a vacuum in the Indo-Pacific.
Tripoli’s removal “temporarily weakens US capacity for rapid maritime interdiction, amphibious crisis response and ship-to-shore capabilities essential for Taiwan-related contingencies,” Liselotte Odgaard, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, a Washington-based think tank, recently commented.
“The move reduces operational flexibility in the first island chain, where the US relies heavily on distributed marine littoral formations, amphibious mobility, and forward-based aviation such as fighter jets on amphibious ships,” she said. The first island chain, which stretches from Japan via Taiwan to the Philippines and the South China Sea, is a collection of islands and archipelagos that extend along the coast of East Asia.
Odgaard warned that other Indo-Pacific naval forces must “now cover presence patrols in the East China Sea, deterrence missions around Taiwan, and regional exercises,” although these could not completely replace the Tripoli’s integrated sea-air-ground capability.
“China may perceive a temporary window of reduced US amphibious capacity, even if carrier strike groups remain,” she said. “This does not eliminate deterrence but modifies its composition, shifting it towards air and submarine assets rather than combined expeditionary forces.”
The EurAsian Times understands that Odgaard’s views mirror the concerns expressed by experts amid previous reports that the US was moving parts of its Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) anti-missile system from South Korea to the Middle East.
While the relocation of critical assets from the Indo-Pacific to the Middle East affects the US’s ability to address simultaneous crises in two theatres, there is currently no indication that China will launch an all-out attack against Taiwan. In fact, the US has assessed that Beijing is unlikely to invade the self-ruled island by 2027.
- Contact the author at sakshi.tiwari13 (at) outlook.com
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