WASHINGTON – The Pentagon is sending an aircraft carrier from the Caribbean to the Middle East, two U.S. officials told Reuters on Friday, Feb. 13, a move that would put two carriers in the region as tensions soar between the United States and Iran.

The U.S. Navy’s newest supercarrier is heading back towards the Middle East having already been recalled across the Atlantic to station off Venezuela. Already in its eighth month at sea, this new assignment – which will require the third Atlantic transit of its current deployment – in the midst of heightened tensions between the U.

The Pentagon is sending a second aircraft carrier group – the USS Gerald Ford – to the Middle East, according to a senior administration official and a source familiar with the matter, a move that puts pressure on Iran even as President Donald Trump has said talks with Tehran will continue.

The order to deploy “could be issued in a matter of hours,” one of the officials confirmed to the Wall Street Journal, though no official directive from Trump has yet been given. The Pentagon has

Six F-35A Lightning IIs from the Vermont ANG, previously forward deployed to Puerto Rico, have departed RAF Lakenheath on their way to the Middle East. The six jets are part of a total of 12 F-35As from the Vermont unit that have been noted making a transit towards the U.

Read Middle East on The Wall Street Journal

By Nivedita Balu TORONTO, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Canada's biggest life insurers, Manulife and Sun Life, are looking at the Middle East for new avenues of growth, chasing wealthy clients from Asia and other parts of the world moving to Dubai.