Second US Carrier Steams Through Indian Ocean To Join Yemen War

New satellite imagery captured over the weekend shows the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier entering the Indian Ocean, signaling Washington's escalating military build-up in the region as part of its war on Yemen and ahead of a possible attack on Iran.

The USS Carl Vinson, a Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier named in honor of US Congressman Carl Vinson of Georgia, was originally deployed in the western Pacific. It is now the second US aircraft carrier in West Asia, joining the USS Harry S. Truman.

Last week, the US also deployed a fleet of B-2 Bombers to its base in Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Together, the US carriers and bombers greatly expand the US military's ability to launch air and missile strikes on Iran and Yemen.

The satellite imagery and maritime data showed that the USS Carl Vinson and its strike group transited through the Malacca Straits to reach the Indian Ocean.

The US military has been bombing Yemen since March 15, after the country's Ansarallah-led government announced its intention to resume attacks on Israeli-linked vessels in the Red and Arabian Seas in response to Israel's blockade on Gaza.

The US military's bombing campaign in Yemen has cost nearly $1 billion in under three weeks, according to sources speaking with CNN, who said the campaign had caused a limited impact on the Ansarallah-led Yemeni Armed Forces' (YAF) capabilities.

Yemen, a close ally of Iran, first began attacking Israeli-linked ships and targets in Israel in November 2023 in response to Israel's genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.

The US military build-up in West Asia intensified after US President Donald Trump threatened Iran on 30 March with bombing and secondary tariffs if Tehran did not come to an agreement with Washington over its nuclear program. “If they don't make a deal, there will be bombing,” Trump said in a telephone interview. “It will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before.”

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has also issued warnings to Iran. “Secretary Hegseth continues to make clear that, should Iran or its proxies threaten American personnel and interests in the region, the United States will take decisive action to defend our people,” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement issued Monday.

Iran has made clear it is not willing to enter direct talks over its nuclear program while US officials threaten military action against it.

However, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has stated Tehran is open to indirect talks via intermediaries in Oman. Araghchi wrote in a post on X, “Diplomatic engagement worked in the past and can still work. But, it should be clear to all that there is – by definition – no such thing as a ‘military option,’ let alone a ‘military solution.’”

Following Trump's threat, Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of the Aerospace Division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), directly threatened US bases in West Asia.

“The Americans have around 10 military bases in the region – at least near Iran – and 50,000 troops,” Hajizadeh told Iranian state TV on Monday. “It's like they're sitting in a glass house. And when you're in a glass house, you don't throw stones at others.”

Iran has long rejected claims it seeks to produce a nuclear weapon, saying such a move is un-Islamic due to the threat such weapons pose to civilians. Tehran insists that its nuclear program is entirely peaceful, in line with a religious fatwa against weapons of mass destruction, as well as the fact that it is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). 

However, analysts suggest Iran could quickly develop nuclear weapons if US and Israeli threats to bomb and invade the country continue.