The US military said a third aircraft carrier had arrived in the Middle East, the highest number of American carriers deployed to the region in more than 20 years, according to analysts.

The announcement on Thursday came around the same time US President Donald Trump declined to give a timeline on when the Iran war could end, telling reporters at the White House: “Don’t rush me.”

US Central Command (CENTCOM), which coordinates American forces throughout the Middle East, announced in a social media post that the third aircraft carrier, the Nimitz-class USS George H.W. Bush, had transited into its area of responsibility.

The Bush, commissioned in 2009, is the newest of 10 Nimitz-class aircraft carriers in the US fleet. Almost 1,000 feet long and displacing more than 100,000 tons, it can carry more than 80 aircraft, is powered by two nuclear reactors and has more than 5,500 sailors and air crew aboard.

Asked about plans for the Bush, a defense official told CNN Thursday that the military does not “discuss force disposition, ship movements, or locations to protect service members and operational security.”

But analysts note the arrival of the Bush sends a message without even firing a shot.

“Just the potential of a third carrier getting involved adds to the pressure facing the (Iranian) regime as peace talks approach,” said Carl Schuster, a retired US Navy captain.

“The message is that Trump may apply more pain if the peace talks don’t advance in the way Trump wants. The political imagery is as, and possibly more important, than the military action,” Schuster added

Multiple sources told CNN this week plans were being developed for new strikes on Iranian targets in the Strait of Hormuz, in the event the current ceasefire falls apart.

They described potential attacks against small fast attack boats, minelaying vessels and other asymmetric assets that have helped Tehran effectively shut down those key waterways and use them as leverage over the US.

Analyst Peter Layton, a fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute and former Royal Australian Air Force officer, told CNN the Bush’s aircraft could be used in such a campaign.

But he called the carrier’s fighter jets “a very inefficient way” to conduct strikes on asymmetric assets, adding that Air Force A-10 attack jets already in the region are more suited for the job.

Layton and others said the Bush might be coming on to relieve the USS Gerald R Ford, which has been deployed since last June, well past the normal seven or so months US carriers deploy under normal circumstances.

Tracking sites showed the Ford in the Red Sea earlier this week.

“Her crew is due some rest … or their operational efficiency will begin to suffer. So, it is prudent to have a replacement en route,” said Schuster.

The Ford suffered a fire in its laundry spaces in March, and it did not launch sorties until two days after the blaze was extinguished, the chief of US naval operations said.

It later made port calls in the Mediterranean for repairs and crew rest, the Navy said. But it was back on duty as of early this month and moved back into the Red Sea late last week.

Meanwhile, the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln was shown in the Arabian Sea south of Iran, as it has been since the beginning of the war on February 28.

Schuster said there would be advantages to having a third carrier in the region, one being that the Bush carries the newest F-35 fighters, which the Ford cannot handle.

“Having two F-35-capable carriers adds a lot of firepower if Iran proves intransigent,” he said, even if those jets aren’t the best option for handling the IRGC’s asymmetric navy.

Layton said two or three carriers are likely too much of a force just to be used for blockade duty.

“A blockade really only needs one. However, making threats of more air strikes on Iran makes the second carrier useful,” he said.

Historical significance

According to data from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, three US carriers would be the greatest number of American carriers in the region since 2003.

During the beginning of the “shock and awe” attacks on Iraq in 2003, five US carriers participated, according to the Naval History and Heritage Command.

Noting the historical significance of three carriers in the region, Cedric Leighton, a CNN military analyst and retired US Air Force colonel, said it puts pressure on Iran to reach a deal, but it’s uncertain Iran will compromise.

“The jury’s still out on that,” Leighton said.

Earlier Thursday, a US official told CNN that Washington has 19 warships in the Middle East and seven ships in the Indian Ocean. The official did not include the Bush – or any of the guided-missile destroyers in its strike group – on that list.

If the Bush is an addition to the fleet in CENTCOM – and not a replacement to relieve the Ford or Lincoln – it would represent an extraordinary commitment of the US carrier force to the Iran conflict.

Fleet tracking websites show only four or five of the Navy’s total of 11 carriers are available for combat operations.

Maintenance, overhauls and training mean not all 11 carriers are ready for combat at any one time.

Ship spotters last week caught the USS Theodore Roosevelt leaving port in San Diego, and the Navy showed the USS Nimitz participating in a training exercise in the South Pacific off Chile. The USS George Washington was shown as in port in Japan.

The Bush and its strike group left its Norfolk, Virginia, homeport on March 31, and took the long route to the Middle East region, steaming around the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa.

That route meant it avoided the Suez Canal and the Red Sea, where Iranian-armed Houthi proxies have watch over the Bab al-Mandab Strait between Yemen and the Horn of Africa.

The Lincoln is also a Nimitz-class carrier with a similar profile. The Ford, the US Navy’s newest and most powerful carrier, is slightly larger than the Nimitz-class ships. (CNN)

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