Gulf Region / Washington — The Pentagon has ordered a fresh surge of warships into Middle Eastern waters after four U.S. bases in the region were hit by Iranian missiles and drones in a single night, triggering the sharpest spike in war fears since the crisis began.

Explosions ripped through logistics hubs and housing areas at facilities in Iraq, Syria and along the Gulf, killing and wounding American personnel and forcing troops into hardened shelters for hours. Grainy footage from inside one base shows barracks engulfed in flames as sirens blare and medevac helicopters claw into the sky. U.S. Central Command calls the attacks “a coordinated Iranian escalation, not a proxy skirmish.”

Within hours, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and a reinforced escort group were rerouted toward the Gulf, joining the already‑deployed USS Gerald R. Ford in what officials describe as a “two‑carrier posture ready for high‑end combat.” Additional destroyers, cruisers and an amphibious assault ship carrying Marines are racing to plug what commanders fear could become multiple flashpoints at sea and ashore.

In Tehran, the Revolutionary Guard is openly celebrating the base strikes as “Phase One of calibrated punishment,” warning that any large U.S. reply will be met with further salvos on “every footprint of American power” in the region.

For Gulf allies, the sight of yet more U.S. hulls on the horizon is both reassurance and a warning: Washington is preparing for the possibility that the next Iranian attack won’t just hit a base — it could collide head‑on with the most powerful navy in the world.