The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group earlier arrived for patrols in the Arabian Sea, with the US reportedly ready to deploy as many as 120,000 troops to the Middle East to counter alleged threats from Tehran.
British Special Forces have flown to the Middle East in the framework of a top secret mission to rebuff possible Iranian attacks on merchant ships, according to The Sun.
However, US President Donald Trump is said to be increasingly favouring direct talk with Tehran as the best way forward, in a bid to comply with his long-standing pledge to withdraw the US from costly foreign wars, reports Washington Post.
“I am not somebody who wants to go into war because war kills (the) economy, kills people most importantly,” he added.
However, Trump is willing to respond with force should there be American deaths or a dramatic escalation, added the official.
Speaking with the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) at the end of a visit to China on Saturday, he added that Tehran did not want a war, but that no country had the “idea or illusion that it can confront Iran”.
US-Iranian tensions flared up last year when Washington unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal and reinstated crippling sanctions against the country.
On 8 May 2019, Iran announced its decision to partially discontinue its obligations under the deal.
The United States, in turn, stepped up its military presence in the Middle East in what White House National Security Adviser John Bolton has called “a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime”, sending a carrier strike group, Patriot missiles, B-52 bombers and F-15 fighters to the area, according to the Pentagon.