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By Micah McCartney
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New satellite imagery shows the U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli and escort ships transiting the South China Sea at high speed while en route to the Middle East, marking the latest high-profile military assets pulled from Asia as the conflict with Iran drags on.
Newsweek reached out to the U.S. Navy's Seventh fleet by email with a request for comment.
Why It Matters
Late last month, the United States and Israel targeted key military targets in Iran and killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other government leaders. Iran responded by launching missiles and drones targeting Israel and several Gulf Arab states that host U.S. armed forces.
Read More on World
Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz as U.S. and Israeli strikes intensified, with cargo traffic effectively halted through the narrow maritime pathway that carries a fifth of the world's oil under the threat of Iranian attacks, with several tankers and cargo ships targeted last week. Iran has warned vessels sailing under U.S. or allied flags against attempting to transit the strait while hostilities continue.
The Pentagon has responded by sending additional forces into the region, including the Okinawa-based 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, as the conflict enters its third week.
What To Know
The Japan‑based USS Tripoli and two heavy escorts were observed Sunday on a southwesterly course through the South China Sea, roughly midway between Vietnam’s Phú Yên province and the Philippine island of Mindoro, according to satellite imagery from the European Space Agency Sentinel 2 satellites.
Naval observers noted unusually large wakes trailing the vessels, indicating they were sailing at higher speeds than typical patrol operations.
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“They are moving with purpose, bringing a major Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) umbrella with them as they sprint toward the theater,” open‑source analyst MT Anderson wrote on X. The Tripoli's escorts are Arleigh Burke‑class guided‑missile destroyers, Anderson assessed.
The movement follows a Friday report by The Wall Street Journal citing U.S. officials who said elements of the Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group and the Okinawa‑based 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit had departed for the Middle East. One official said some of the forces would take part in operations against Iran.
Spanning 844 feet from bow to stern and displacing more than 45,000 tons, the USS Tripoli can operate F‑35B Lightning II stealth jets—the short takeoff and vertical landing variant of the Lockheed Martin-built stealth fighter—allowing it to boost U.S. air operations now entering their third week.
Destroyers such as the Tripoli's escorts are typically outfitted with layered air‑ and missile‑defense systems such as the Standard Missile series, can help provide defensive coverage against missile and drone threats while also carrying long‑range land‑attack weapons, including Tomahawk cruise missiles.
The ship took part last week in Exercise Iron Fist, an annual series of drills involving U.S. and Japanese forces aimed at "reinforcing a shared commitment to regional security and a free and open Indo-Pacific," the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement.
The move makes the Tripoli among the most significant assets pulled from the Asia‑Pacific in recent days.
Last week, the U.S. began moving parts of its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile system from South Korea to the Middle East as American interceptor stocks came under increasingly strain amid waves of Iran's missile and drone attacks.
What People Are Saying
The U.S. Central Command, which is leading the "Operation Epic Fury" offensive against Iran, said in a statement Friday: "The Iranian regime has been the number one threat to peace and stability in the Middle East for years. U.S. forces continue to take decisive steps to neutralize Iran’s power projection capabilities."
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi wrote on X Sunday: "Our powerful armed forces will keep firing until the POTUS [the president of the United States] realizes that illegal war he's imposing on both Americans and Iranians is wrong and must never be repeated. Victims must also be compensated."
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