New Delhi, March 20 -- The 50,000-ton USS Tripoli, an amphibious assault ship carrying more than 2,000 Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, is set to enter the war zone in the northern Arabian Sea around March 22-23, according to Hindustan Times.

There is reportedly a high likelihood that the USS Tripoli could be deployed in efforts to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz for international oil shipping and maintain freedom of navigation through the narrow waterway amid the Middle East conflict. At its narrowest point, the strait is only about 33 kilometres wide, and the geography gives Iran an advantage in any attempt to target shipping and trigger an oil crisis.

The large warship is currently south of Sri Lanka in the southern ...