Iran and the United States need not have any confrontation over the passage through the Straits of Hormuz, said a Pentagon spokesman today, but the United States does intend to return an aircraft carrier to the area.
“No one in this government seeks confrontation over the Straits of Hormuz,” Pentagon Press Secretary George Little told reporters, according to the American Forces Press Service. “It’s important to lower the temperature.”
Little also dismissed Iran’s reported warning that the United States should not send an aircraft carrier to the straits — the major sea lane for oil from the Persian Gulf — in the wake of another carrier’s departure and a series of Iranian naval exercises in the area. “Such regularly scheduled movements are in according with longstanding U.S. commitments to the region’s security and stability, and in support of ongoing operations,” Little explained.
He also said that “the Iranian regimae should devote its energy and resources to establishing friendly relations with countries in the Gulf region.”
