WASHINGTON: Acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said on Monday that he had approved sending a carrier strike group and bombers to the Middle East because of a “credible threat by Iranian regime forces”.
“(It) represents a prudent repositioning of assets in response to indications of a credible threat by Iranian regime forces,” Shanahan said on Twitter.
“We call on the Iranian regime to cease all provocation. We will hold the Iranian regime accountable for any attack on US forces or our interests,” he added.
Earlier on Sunday, National Security Adviser John Bolton said the Trump administration was deploying a carrier strike group and bombers to the Middle East in response to troubling “indications and warnings” from Iran and to show the United States will retaliate with “unrelenting force” to any attack.
With tensions already high between Washington and Tehran, a US official said the deployment had been ordered “as a deterrence to what has been seen as potential preparations by Iranian forces and its proxies that may indicate possible attacks on US forces in the region”. However, the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States was not expecting any imminent Iranian attack.
Bolton — who has spearheaded an increasingly hawkish US policy on Iran — said the decision, which could exacerbate problems between the two countries, was meant to send a “clear and unmistakable message” of US resolve to Tehran.
Though he cited no specific Iranian activities that have raised new concerns, Iran has recently warned it would block the Strait of Hormuz if it was barred from using the strategic waterway. About a fifth of the oil consumed globally passes through the strait.
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