An aircraft carrier and roughly 10,000 troops are headed to the Middle East, per the Wall Street Journal, where they will join the two carriers and 50,000 servicemembers already deployed against Iran.
The Journal reported Thursday, citing U.S. officials, that the USS Theodore Roosevelt left San Diego for the Persian Gulf theater Sunday, and the Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group followed on Monday.
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Axios reported Thursday that the U.S. also in recent weeks moved two Patriot missile batteries to the region, one each to Saudi Arabia and to Qatar, to protect energy infrastructure in the event of renewed hostilities between the U.S. and Iran. President Donald Trump’s recent public statements about Iran have suggested he expects a return to combat soon.
The diplomatic track, however, has not been entirely abandoned. Bloomberg reported Thursday that Iran offered to allow inspectors into the country’s bombed nuclear sites in exchange for sanctions relief.
Brent crude opened Friday at $102 per barrel. AAA reported national averages of $4.40 per gallon of regular gas and $6.37 per gallon of diesel.
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