[ad_1]
The United States is sending the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and a task force on bombers to the Middle East in order to "send a clear and unequivocal message to the Iranian regime," announced Sunday night the National Security Advisor, John Bolton.
Bolton said the deployment responded to "a number of disturbing and escalating warnings and cautions" from Tehran, without giving further details. Such deployments are rarely announced in advance.
"[A]Any attack on the interests of the United States or our allies will face a relentless force, "said Bolton. The United States does not seek war with the Iranian regime, but we are fully prepared to respond to any attack, whether by proxy, the body of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards or the regular Iranian forces. ".
An airplane parked on the flight deck of USS Abraham Lincoln on this 2012 photo.
(AP, File)
The strike group, which includes the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, the USS Leyte Gulf guided missile cruiser and the Destroyer Squadron 2 destroyers, departed Norfolk Naval Station on April 1 for what the navy described as a " regular deployment ". The strike force is under the command of Rear Admiral John Wade.
USS aircraft strike group John Stennis was in the Persian Gulf as recently as late March. Stennis and USS Abraham Lincoln have joined forces in the Mediterranean Sea in recent days.
This deployment comes less than a month after the Trump administration appointed the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), an Iranian elite, a terrorist organization. In late March, the Air Force withdrew its Qatar bombers, one of the few times since 2001 that no bomber has been deployed in the Middle East.
Dissidents call on Iranian embassies in Europe to close in the middle of a terrorist threat
Last month, the Air Force deployed an operational force consisting of stealth fighter aircraft F-35 for the first time in the Middle East. Last week, some of the advanced jet aircraft made their first airstrikes against the Islamic State, the air force announced.
Earlier on Sunday, Axios announced that the Trump government was preparing to announce Wednesday a new round of sanctions against Iran, one year after the withdrawal of the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal. The Wall Street Journal announced last week that the White House is considering sanctions on sales of petrochemicals and consumer goods by Iran, but Axios said Sunday that sanctions announced this week would target a different sector of the country. Economy of the rogue country.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The US Navy has said there have been no instances of "unsafe" interactions between its warships and its planes and Iranian forces this year as well as last year.
The deployment is also part of the five-year bloodiest fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.
Last Friday, two Israeli soldiers were wounded by snipers of Iran-backed Islamic Jihad militant group. On Saturday afternoon, the Israeli army announced that an air strike had killed Hamas commander, Hamed al-Khudary, a money changer who, according to Israel, was a key player in the transfer of Iranian funds to the militant group.
Lucas Tomlinson, Kelly Lighthouse and Fox News Associated Press contributed to this report.
[ad_2]
Source link