The United States ordered a third aircraft carrier strike group and up to 10,000 additional troops to the Middle East on a timeline running to the end of November, according to a weekly regional bulletin. The USS Theodore Roosevelt was reported heading toward the region by the Associated Press.

The buildup came as the United States rejected Iran’s seven-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and expelled Iran’s UN General Assembly delegation after mediated talks stalled, the Middle East Weekly Bulletin reported.

With three carriers in the region by late October, the force posture marks the heaviest US naval concentration in the Middle East this year. Analysts see the political calendar, including the US midterms on November 3 and Israel’s election on October 27, shaping the escalation window.

The near-term risk lies at the edges, the bulletin assessed: tanker attacks around Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman, Houthi pressure on Saudi infrastructure, and Iraqi armed groups after the US withdrawal from Iraq.