Reasons why the US is deploying nuclear submarines to the Middle East.

According to Bloomberg, the ship in question is the USS Florida, which can carry up to 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles or up to 66 Navy SEALs for covert operations.

Four Ohio-class submarines have been converted to carry cruise missiles instead of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), with two deployed along each U.S. coast. Bloomberg, citing unnamed U.S. defense officials, reported that the deployment was intended as a "show of force" toward Iran. The CENCOM announcement included a photograph of a submarine seemingly heading toward the Al Salam Bridge, which spans the Suez Canal. The Pentagon rarely reports on nuclear submarine deployments unless they are conducting port visits.

Additional military assets arrived in the region as two U.S. carrier strike groups were operating in the Eastern Mediterranean. The deployment of the USS Gerald R. Ford and Dwight D. Eisenhower was seen by Washington as a deterrent amid Israel's military operations in the Gaza Strip. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) surrounded the Palestinian territory following last month's deadly Hamas attack, which killed more than 1,000 people and took hundreds hostage. Israel declared the elimination of the militant group a vital objective.

Critics argue the response has been disproportionate, pointing to the high number of civilian deaths from IDF airstrikes. Gaza officials claim the airstrikes have claimed the lives of more than 10,000 people in Gaza. There are concerns that other actors in the region, including Lebanon's Hezbollah militia and Iran, could join the conflict on a larger scale. US leaders have pledged to stand alongside Israel, including providing additional military aid to the Jewish state's Gaza campaign. The USS Florida aircraft carrier was first deployed for combat operations in 2011, bombing Libya as part of a NATO campaign to support rebel forces seeking to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi. The North African nation remains politically fractured and economically devastated more than a decade after the intervention.