United States sending aircraft carrier and bombers to Middle East to deter Iran

[David48atTD]

Fighter jets parked on aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln ... had left port on April 1

The Trump administration is deploying a carrier strike group and bombers to the Middle East in response to troubling "indications and warnings" from Iran and to show the United States will retaliate with "unrelenting force" to any attack.

Key points:

• National security advisor John Bolton says the decision is meant to send a "clear and unmistakable message" to Tehran
• US official says no imminent Iranian attack expected
• Iran threatened to close Strait of Hormuz after US announced it would end exemptions to buyers of Iranian oil

With tensions already high between Washington and Tehran, a US official said the deployment had been ordered "as a deterrence to what has been seen as potential preparations by Iranian forces and its proxies that may indicate possible attacks on US forces in the region".
However, the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States was not expecting any imminent Iranian attack.

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