The US carrier strike group on route to the Persian Gulf region has passed through the Suez Canal in Egypt and entered the Red Sea, Sky News Arabia has reported, citing Canal administration.
Earlier, the strike group reportedly skipped plans for a port visit to Croatia amid efforts to “expedite” its arrival in the Middle East.
Tehran dismissed the plans to deploy the carrier group in the CENTCOM region, a Pentagon designation whose area of responsibility includes the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, as a failed attempt to wage “a psychological war” against Iran.
Along with the USS Abraham Lincoln-led strike group, the US military is deploying B-52 strategic bombers to the region. Earlier, the carrier group was deployed in the Mediterranean for joint training with the USS John C. Stennis strike group, with US Ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman calling the deployment a ‘100,000 tonne message’ to Russia.
This week, Trump National Security Adviser John Bolton said the US would deploy the USS Abraham Lincoln-led strike group to the Middle East to send a “clear message” to Iran that any attack on US interests would be met with “unrelenting force.” Later, acting Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan called the deployment a “prudent repositioning of assets in response to indications of a credible threat by Iranian regime forces.”
Also this week, anonymous US officials told CNN that Iran was moving short-range ballistic missiles by sea to the Persian Gulf ahead of the US carrier group’s arrival. Iranian officials have not commented on the reports.