A U.S. carrier group has been deployed to the Arabian Sea to defend threats from Iran on American assets.
The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier is “currently operating in the U.S. European Command area of responsibility (AOR), but will expedite its arrival into the U.S. Central Command AOR in order to defend American forces and interests in the region,” an unnamed Defense Department official told VOA.
The move by the Navy was reportedly in response to several “credible threat[s]” posed against U.S. forces and or allies in the region. A U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) spokesperson recently reported that the command “continues to track a number of credible threat streams emanating from the regime in Iran throughout the CENTCOM area of responsibility.”
Comments by CENTCOM dovetailed the recent statement made by National Security Advisor John Bolton and released by the White House earlier this week: “In response to a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings, the United States is deploying the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and a bomber task force to the U.S. Central Command region to send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force. The United States is not seeking war with the Iranian regime, but we are fully prepared to respond to any attack, whether by proxy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or regular Iranian forces.”
Trump administration and defense officials have been intentionally vague on which Iranian “threats” they’re referring to. But a bit of context makes it rather clear.
Iran has been flaunting its naval capabilities for months now. Less than two weeks ago, the Iranian government claimed it was spying on U.S. warships in the region. Because of the highly sensitive nature of the waterways to Iran’s south and the highly lucrative nature of the cargo that passes through them, if the Ayatollahs would want to cause the West trouble, the Sea would be the choice venue.
