US aircraft carrier returns to Middle East as Suez Canal opens
The USS Eisenhower arrives in the Gulf region as the Biden administration kicks off indirect talks with Iran over its nuclear program.
The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier and accompanying destroyers passed through the Suez Canal on Saturday following a weeklong stoppage of traffic through the vital thoroughfare caused by a stuck container ship.
The Eisenhower approached Port Said late last week following Egypt’s announcement that the stuck ship, the MV Ever Given, had been dislodged from its location near the canal’s southern mouth on the Red Sea.
The US carrier is likely to take command of the US Navy-led Task Force 50 in the Gulf region. The French carrier Charles de Gaulle took command of the task force at Washington’s request late last month, according to Naval News.
Its entry into Middle Eastern waters marks the first US carrier strike group presence in the region since January when US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin sent the USS Nimitz home after an extended deployment to the region amid threats from Iranian leaders.
