{"id":228787,"date":"2026-03-20T17:07:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T17:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/228787\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T17:07:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T17:07:09","slug":"pentagon-orders-2500-troops-3-warships-from-california-to-the-middle-east","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/228787\/","title":{"rendered":"Pentagon orders 2,500 troops, 3 warships from California to the Middle East"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The Pentagon is reportedly sending three California-based warships<\/a> and roughly 2,500 Marines to the Middle East, the second significant deployment in a week. <\/p>\n

The three warships are part of the San Diego-based USS Boxer amphibious ready group. The Marines are from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, based at Camp Pendleton. The deployments were reported Friday by the Associated Press, citing Pentagon sources.<\/p>\n

A 2,500-strong Marine unit accompanied by the USS Tripoli warship launched from Japan Saturday. <\/p>\n

The major reinforcement comes as the war\u2019s economic shock waves<\/a> are felt throughout the globe, as Washington seeks to secure vital shipping lanes and deter further attacks on energy infrastructure around the Persian Gulf.<\/p>\n

President Trump has continued pressing allies to join his proposed coalition to patrol the Iranian-controlled Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping lane through which about 20% of the world\u2019s oil supply passes. So far, Europe, Japan, China and Australia have refused to heed the call. <\/p>\n

Trump on Thursday said Iran \u201cis close to demolished,\u201d but that securing the Strait of Hormuz remained a struggle. He suggested the U.S. was working to secure the strait not for its own oil needs, but \u201cjust to be nice\u201d to other countries that rely on oil from the region to a much larger degree than the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey complain about the high oil prices they are forced to pay, but don\u2019t want to help open the Strait of Hormuz, a simple military maneuver that is the single reason for the high oil prices. So easy for them to do, with so little risk. COWARDS, and we will REMEMBER!\u201d Trump wrote<\/a> Friday on Truth Social. <\/p>\n

Iran continued sweeping attacks on Mideast energy facilities, a retaliation to Israeli strikes on its Iran\u2019s South Pars field, the world\u2019s largest natural gas field Wednesday. The fallout has dragged the Gulf states into the war amid the largest energy supply disruption in history.<\/p>\n

Iranian shahed drones<\/a> hammered Kuwait\u2019s largest oil refinery Friday. Similar attacks triggered fires at Ras Laffan Industrial City in Qatar, bringing energy product screaming to a halt at the largest natural gas hub in the globe. Repairs are expected to take years. <\/p>\n

Meanwhile, United Arab Emirates\u2019 air defense systems were countering Iranian missiles overnight, and Saudi Arabia said it might respond with force if Iran continues to attack facilities in the kingdom.<\/p>\n

Israel said Friday it had killed Esmail Ahmadi, a senior intelligence official in Iran\u2019s Basij and deputy to its commander, in an airstrike. Officials described Ahmadi as \u201cone of the most important pillars\u201d of the Basij volunteer paramilitary force. <\/p>\n

Even as Israel carries out daily decapitation airstrikes in Tehran and the U.S. deploys renewed forces to its front door, the Islamic Republic has not faltered. <\/p>\n

Abolfazl Shekarchi, a senior spokesperson for Iran\u2019s armed forces, said American and Israeli officials could be targeted worldwide.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom now on, based on the information we have, even recreational and tourist locations around the world will not be safe for you,\u201d Shekarchi said.<\/p>\n

Oil prices have surged past $100 a barrel and found a volatile new floor amid the chaos.<\/p>\n

Financial markets have reacted with sustained losses. Wall Street has now posted its fourth consecutive week of declines, with investors increasingly pricing in the risk that higher energy costs could slow economic growth while reigniting inflation. Analysts warn that persistently elevated crude prices are likely to squeeze corporate margins and weigh on consumer spending in the United States and beyond.<\/p>\n

The International Monetary Fund has cautioned that the conflict could push inflation higher, too. The Federal Reserve is now facing renewed uncertainty as they weigh whether to hold interest rates higher for longer in response to rising energy costs.<\/p>\n

At a White House event on Friday, Trump maintained that the United States\u2019 military operation is \u201cgoing extremely well in Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe difference between them and us is they had a navy two weeks ago and they have no navy anymore. It\u2019s all at the bottom of the sea,\u201d Trump said. \u201cFifty-eight ships were knocked down in two days and we have the greatest navy in the world. It is not even close.\u201d<\/p>\n

The president did not take questions from reporters in the room. But in unprompted remarks, he said the United States and Iran are not engaging in talks because their leaders \u201care all gone,\u201d adding to the uncertainty about the war\u2019s exit strategy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are having a hard time, we want to talk to them and there is nobody to talk to,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have nobody to talk to and you know what? We like it that way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0The Pentagon is reportedly sending three California-based warships and roughly 2,500 Marines to the Middle East, the second…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":228788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,103944,11071,2424,103943,92583,19378,103942,340,9066,5407,1519,435,2664,95509,8074],"class_list":["post-228787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-esmail-ahmadi","tag-force","tag-friday","tag-high-oil-price","tag-hormuz","tag-iran","tag-iranian-controlled-strait","tag-israel","tag-middle-east","tag-pentagon","tag-trump","tag-united-states","tag-war","tag-warship","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}