Sailors assigned to the USS Mason at Naval Station Mayport set sail Tuesday on a scheduled deployment overseas.

The United States is deploying about 2,500 Marines to the Middle East as the war with Iran enters a new phase centered on the Strait of Hormuz.

What began as a decapitation campaign is drifting toward a geopolitical and economic crisis, which Iran could survive. Without clear aims, a sustaining narrative, or allied cohesion, tactical victories risk translating into strategic defeat.

President Donald Trump cast the war with Iran as a “little excursion” during a retreat for House Republicans, portraying the ongoing U.S. bombing campaign as a necessity.

Members of Jacksonville’s Iranian community gathered at Kathryn Abbey Hanna Park this weekend, not in protest, but in celebration. Many of them said they believe the latest developments in Iran could mark a turning point for their homeland and for loved ones still there.