The United States military is deploying a second Marine Expeditionary Unit to the Middle East, three U.S. officials told Reuters on Friday, adding thousands of additional Marines and sailors to the more than 50,000 U.S. troops already stationed in the region.
The 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), composed of approximately 2,200 Marines based at Camp Pendleton, California, departed San Diego earlier this week aboard the USS Boxer (LHD-4), an amphibious assault ship, along with the USS Comstock and the USS Portland.
Officials said the deployment was accelerated ahead of its original schedule, though a Navy spokesperson characterized it publicly as a routine Indo-Pacific operation.
No final orders directing the 11th MEU to the Middle East had been formally confirmed as of Friday, two officials told Reuters, but its ultimate destination is expected to be the region. The force will require several additional weeks before reaching theater.
Officials did not specify a mission for the additional troops. U.S. officials have told Reuters no decision has been made to send forces into Iran itself, but the deployments are intended to build capacity for potential future operations.
As SOFX previously reported, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth approved a U.S. Central Command request on March 13 to deploy the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, headquartered in Okinawa, Japan, to the Middle East.
That unit departed aboard the USS Tripoli (LHA-7) and the USS New Orleans (LPD-18) and remains in transit through the South China Sea as of this week.
The 31st MEU’s deployment was ordered in direct response to Iran’s sustained campaign of attacks against oil tanker traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, officials said at the time.
The two deployments differ in their naval composition and capabilities. The USS Tripoli is an America-class amphibious assault ship commissioned in 2020 and represents the most current generation of U.S. amphibious platforms. At more than 840 feet and displacing over 44,000 tons, the Tripoli is optimized for fixed-wing aircraft operations, including the F-35B Lightning II stealth fighter, and does not carry a well deck for amphibious landing craft.
The configuration has led analysts to describe the ship as a “lightning carrier,” blurring the operational line between a traditional amphibious assault vessel and an aircraft carrier.
The USS Boxer, by contrast, is a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship commissioned in 1995. The Boxer retains a well deck capable of launching and recovering amphibious landing craft and vehicles, in addition to carrying F-35B-compatible aviation assets.
The accelerated Marine deployments come as Axios reported Friday, citing four sources with knowledge of the matter, that the Trump administration is considering plans to occupy or blockade Kharg Island, Iran’s primary oil export terminal, as a means of pressuring Tehran into reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
Kharg Island, located approximately 15 miles off Iran’s coast in the Persian Gulf, handles an estimated 90 percent of Iran’s crude oil exports, including piers capable of loading 7 million barrels per day and storage capacity of approximately 30 million barrels.
President Trump, speaking about Kharg Island, which handles over 90% of Iran’s oil exports, said: “We can take over the island anytime we want. I call it the little island just sitting there. It is completely unprotected. We destroyed everything except the pipelines. We left the… pic.twitter.com/ksbpblQ2px
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) March 19, 2026
U.S. Central Command struck more than 90 military installations on the island on March 13, destroying missile batteries, air defense systems, and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) command nodes, though explicitly stating that the oil infrastructure was not targeted.
Last night, U.S. forces executed a large-scale precision strike on Kharg Island, Iran. The strike destroyed naval mine storage facilities, missile storage bunkers, and multiple other military sites. U.S. forces successfully struck more than 90 Iranian military targets on Kharg… pic.twitter.com/2X1glD4Flt
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 14, 2026
Officials cited by Axios described a full takeover of Kharg Island as a potential “economic knockout of the regime.” The same officials cautioned any seizure operation would only be considered after further degrading Iran’s military capabilities, and that the plan carries significant risk to U.S. forces.
