Middle East Notes and Comment: Brother, Can You Spare a Carrier?

Middle East Notes and Comment: Brother, Can You Spare a Carrier?

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An aircraft carrier is a scarce resource. The United States has eleven carriers in its entire fleet, and only about half can deploy at any given time. According to the website globalsecurity.org, five U.S. carriers are currently at sea, and two of them are currently off the coast of Iran. That’s a lot of firepower directed toward one target, especially when few expect U.S. tensions with Iran to vanish—or even diminish—any time soon.

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Middle East
Jon B. Alterman

Jon B. Alterman

Senior Vice President, Zbigniew Brzezinski Chair in Global Security and Geostrategy, and Director, Middle East Program

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