U.S. Development Finance Corporation

The U.S. has rerouted the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli and roughly 2,200–2,500 Marines of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit from the Indo‑Pacific to the Middle East to provide CENTCOM with options — including rapid infantry raids on nearby islands — to interdict Iranian mine‑laying and protect shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. The deployment comes amid near‑total tanker withdrawals, rising attacks and insurance cancellations that have snarled oil flows and driven crude and pump prices sharply higher, prompting proposals for naval escorts and a historic 400‑million‑barrel IEA release (the U.S. supplying 172 million barrels) to calm markets.