About 2,500 Camp Pendleton-based Marines arrived off the coast of Iran late last month just before the five-month-long U.S. and Israeli war on Iran intensified, several images shared by the U.S. Department of Defense show.
The 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit is embarked on the San Diego-based amphibious assault ship USS Boxer. The ship arrived in the region June 30, the Pentagon said.
The Boxer was widely reported to be en route to the Middle East when it left San Diego in March but instead spent three months conducting operations in the Indo-Pacific, according to the Pentagon.
On Monday, U.S. Central Command announced a 10th-consecutive night of airstrikes on Iranian targets. Three U.S. service members were killed in Iranian attacks over the weekend amid the back-and-forth escalation of attacks between the U.S. and Iran.
Two soldiers were killed at a U.S. base in Jordan in airstrikes, and a third was killed in Iraq during a controlled demolition of a downed Iranian drone, the Pentagon said.
The renewed strikes threaten to further strain the U.S. carrier fleet.
The San Diego-based aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln has been in the Middle East since January.
The ship's record-breaking deployment began when it left San Diego in November. It stopped for a one-day port visit in Guam in December and has been at sea ever since — more than 220 consecutive days.
San Diego's other two nuclear-powered aircraft carriers have been closer to home but have also been busy.
The USS Theodore Roosevelt has been in and around Hawaii participating in the biannual Rim of the Pacific Exercise, the world's largest international maritime exercise.
The USS Carl Vinson has been in and out of port undergoing pre-deployment workups.
Naval Air Forces in San Diego did not immediately respond to questions about when the crew of the Lincoln could expect to return.
