The United States is deploying the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and a bomber task force to the Middle East region in response to “troubling and escalatory indications and warnings” from the Iranian government.
National security adviser John Bolton released a statement Sunday night confirming the strike group is being deployed. Bolton said the show of force would send a “clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime” that it cannot attack U.S. allies or interests in the region. He wrote that any attack would 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,” Bolton said.
The latest move continues to ratchet up tensions between Washington and Tehran. Last month, in a bid to put further pressure on the Iranian government, the Trump administration announced that it would stop providing waivers to countries that import Iranian oil. Also last month, the U.S. designated Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a foreign terrorist organization. Iran has since labeled the entire U.S. military as “terrorist.”
