The US is preparing to deploy a third aircraft carrier to the Middle East.

According to RIA Novosti on March 7, Fox News (USA) reported that, based on media reports, the US is planning to deploy the aircraft carrier USS George HW Bush to the conflict zone in the Middle East.

"This third aircraft carrier has completed exercises off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. The ship is now preparing to cross the Atlantic to engage in combat against Iran," Fox News reported.

Sources further indicate that this flagship will be deployed to the Eastern Mediterranean.

Currently, two other aircraft carriers, the USS Gerald R. Ford and the USS Abraham Lincoln, are engaged in combat operations in the Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz, respectively. According to statements from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Abraham Lincoln was attacked by Iran at least three times. However, the US asserts that these missiles did not even come close to the ship.

Earlier, on March 6, President Donald Trump said that the US was "doing very well" in Iran, a week after its military, in coordination with Israel, carried out airstrikes in Tehran that killed Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"Someone said, 'How do you score from 0 to 10?' I said, 'I'm going to score from 12 to 15.' The Iranian military is gone. Their navy is gone. Their communications are gone. Their leaders are gone," President Donald Trump said.

The American leader added that Iran's air force had been "completely wiped out."

Meanwhile, NBC News reported that President Trump expressed interest in sending a US military contingent to Iran to achieve "specific strategic objectives."

"The president's comments suggest he is expressing serious interest in deploying troops, not focused on a large-scale attack on Iran, but rather on the idea of ​​a small U.S. military force to be used for specific strategic purposes," NBC News quoted two U.S. officials as saying.