The San Diego-based USS Carl Vinson has arrived in Mideast waters and is launching air strikes on Houthi rebels ahead of the next round of talks between Iran and the United States over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program.
The Associated Press cited satellite photos taken Monday by the European Union’s Copernicus program showing the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier operating northeast of Socotra, an island off Yemen that sits near the mouth of the Gulf of Aden.
The Vinson is accompanied by the guided-missile cruiser USS Princeton and guided-missile destroyer USS Sterett, both from San Diego, and the guided missile destroyer USS William P. Lawrence from Pearl Harbor.
The Navy ordered the Vinson to the Mideast to back up the USS Harry S. Truman, which has been launching airstrikes against the Houthis since the American campaign started March 15. Footage released by the Navy showed the Vinson preparing ordinance and launching F-35 and F/A-18 fighter jets in recent days.
U.S. Navy Sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) prepare ordnance for operations against Iran-backed Houthis… #HouthisAreTerrorists pic.twitter.com/2zqhUqHlGn
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) April 14, 2025
American officials repeatedly have linked the monthlong American campaign against the Houthis under President Trump as a means to pressure Iran in the negotiations.
Questions remain over where the weekend talks between the countries will be held after officials initially identified Rome as hosting the negotiations, only for Iran to insist early Tuesday they would return to Oman. American officials so far haven’t said where the talks will be held.
The stakes of the negotiations couldn’t be higher for the two nations closing in on half a century of enmity. Trump repeatedly has threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s nuclear program if a deal isn’t reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn that they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.
But even Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reportedly described the first round of talks as going “well,” even while still couching his remarks Tuesday.
U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff, who represented America in last weekend’s talks in Oman, separately signaled that the Trump administration may be looking at terms of the 2015 nuclear deal that the president unilaterally withdrew from in 2018 as a basis for these negotiations. He described the talks last weekend as “positive, constructive, compelling.”
“This is going to be much about verification on the enrichment program, and then ultimately verification on weaponization,” Witkoff told Fox News on Monday night. “That includes missiles, the type of missiles that they have stockpiled there. And it includes the trigger for a bomb.”
He added: “We’re here to see if we can solve this situation diplomatically and with dialogue.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
