U.S. will soon have three aircraft carriers in the Mideast

The U.S. military is poised to have in the coming days its most significant naval deployment in and around the Middle East since the U.S. and Israel launched their joint attack on Iran seven weeks ago.

The USS Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier and associated warships returned to the U.S. military Central Command's area of operations after a stop in the eastern Mediterranean. The Ford transited the Suez Canal and entered the Red Sea over the weekend, along with two destroyers, the USS Mahan and the USS Winston S. Churchill.

The Ford, at sea since June and recently deployed to the Caribbean amid the operation against Venezuela, has already broken the record for the longest carrier deployment since the Vietnam War. It returned to the Mideast after a fire in a laundry room forced it to dock in Greece for repairs.

The Ford joins the USS Abraham Lincoln, which is operating in the north Arabian Sea. The USS George HW Bush aircraft carrier, meanwhile, is heading around the Cape of Good Hope off southern Africa's coast and is expected to reach the Middle East sometime near the end of the month, which will make it three U.S. aircraft carriers and their strike groups operating in the region.