A photo cited by media reports on X shows a US Navy guided-missile destroyer that docked earlier today at Israel’s Red Sea port of Eilat.
Israeli media on Friday, citing the military, identified the ship as the USS Delbert D. Black and said the port call was pre-planned as part of cooperation between the US and Israeli militaries.
Eilat is in Israel’s far south on the Gulf of Aqaba, at the northern tip of the Red Sea, near Israel’s border crossings with Jordan and Egypt.
The docking comes as Washington has boosted its military posture in the region, including the arrival of an aircraft carrier strike group led by the USS Abraham Lincoln alongside several guided-missile destroyers.
The Pentagon has also mobilized fighter jets and air-defence systems to the Middle East and announced an exercise to demonstrate the ability to deploy and sustain combat airpower in the region.
A US official told Reuters on Thursday that the guided-missile destroyer USS Delbert D. Black had entered the region within the past 48 hours, bringing the US naval presence there to six destroyers, an aircraft carrier, and three littoral combat ships.
The arrival also coincides with intensified regional mediation efforts. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is in Turkey for talks with Turkish officials. Ankara is offering to help mediate amid rising US-Iran tensions and reiterating its opposition to military action.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Friday that any diplomatic initiative with the United States depended on ending what he described as belligerent and threatening conduct in the region.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, for his part, said Turkey was ready to play a facilitating role between Iran and the United States to de-escalate tensions and resolve issues, according to a statement from the Iranian presidency.
Egypt has also stepped up contacts aimed at lowering tensions. Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty held separate calls this week with Araghchi and US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, urging de-escalation and warning against the region sliding into a new cycle of instability, the Egyptian foreign ministry said.
Cairo has also coordinated with Gulf mediators. Abdelatty held talks with counterparts in Qatar and Oman on intensifying efforts to contain tensions and revive US-Iran dialogue focused on the nuclear file.
Earlier this month, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Oman engaged in intense diplomacy for 48 hours with both Washington and Tehran to try to avert a threatened US strike. They warned the strike could have wide security and economic repercussions across the region, according to a Gulf official.
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