President Donald Trump says he decided to move a second aircraft carrier into the Middle East as he presses Iran to make a deal over its nuclear program. The USS Gerald R. Ford is being sent from the Caribbean Sea to the Mideast to join other warships and military assets that the U.S. has built up in the region. Trump told reporters Friday that "in case we don't make a deal, we'll need it." He says the carrier will be "leaving soon." Days ago, Trump suggested another round of talks with Iran was at hand. That didn't materialize as a top Iranian security officials visited Oman and Qatar this week and exchanged messages with the U.S. intermediaries.

U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea have seized another sanctioned oil tanker the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela. It's part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country's oil. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Thursday the tanker named Veronica had previously passed through Venezuelan waters and was operating in defiance of President Donald Trump's "established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean." The Veronica is the sixth sanctioned vessel seized by U.S. forces as part of Trump's effort. A video Noem posted online shows helicopters hovering over the deck of a ship while armed troops drop down on the deck by rope.

A U.S. official says Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is beefing up the Navy warship presence in the Middle East, ordering two aircraft carriers to be there next month as the U.S. increases strikes on Yemen-based Houthi rebels. It's the second time in six months the U.S. has kept two carrier strike groups in that region, up from one. The Norfolk, Virginia-based USS Harry S. Truman will be in the Middle East for at least an additional month. The USS Carl Vinson was in the Pacific and had been slated to head home to San Diego in three weeks but will head toward the Middle East.

The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower may be one of the oldest aircraft carriers in the U.S. Navy, but it's still fighting — despite repeated false claims by Yemen's Houthi rebels. The Houthis and online accounts supporting them repeatedly have alleged they hit or even sank the carrier in the Red Sea. The carrier leads the U.S. response to the rebels' targeting of commercial vessels and warships in the crucial waterway — attacks that began as a show solidarity with Hamas in its war with Israel. The Eisenhower's captain is creatively striking back on social media to counter the misinformation as the Navy faces its most intense combat since World War II.