I assume that the Independence class was evacuated before the start of the war from the Gulf to be out of the harms way - the Iranian attacks on the Arabic states and the US bases there were heavy and could be expected to be heavy (and likely will damage the relations between those states and the US for some time because of the heavy damage in those states, high costs for defence and the economic damage because of the interrupted trade).

It is very interesting to see the Independence class LCS in Malaysia - and Trump asking others to send their ships to help!?!?