Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said that the decision to deploy a U.S. carrier strike group and bomber task force to the Middle East came after “indications of a credible threat” from Iran.
Shanahan said Monday over Twitter that he signed off on the decision to send the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and a bomber task force to the Central Command region.
“Last night’s announced deployment of the @CVN_72 and a @USAirForce bomber task force to the @CENTCOM area of responsibility, which I approved yesterday, represents a prudent repositioning of assets in response to indications of a credible threat by Iranian regime forces,” Shanahan said.
“We call on the Iranian regime to cease all provocation. We will hold the Iranian regime accountable for any attack on US forces or our interests,” he added.
2 of 2: We call on the Iranian regime to cease all provocation. We will hold the Iranian regime accountable for any attack on US forces or our interests.
— Acting SecDef Pat Shanahan (@ActingSecDef) May 6, 2019
The news follows a Sunday night press release from national security adviser John Bolton, who said that the deployment would send a “clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime” that it cannot attack U.S. interests or allies in the region. He said any potential provocation by the Iranian government 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 in the release.
In recent months, the U.S. has increased a pressure campaign against Iran designed to squeeze the country financially and politically. Last month, the U.S. announced that it would stop providing waivers to countries that import Iranian oil, threatening sanctions if the countries don’t comply. The U.S. also labeled Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a foreign terrorist organization.
