and his escort group have already arrived in Middle Eastern waters, where they will remain deployed to reinforce the United States military presence in the region and in case Donald Trump chooses to launch an attack against the protests against the regime continuing there, as the US president has threatened on several occasions.
The arrival of the group of warships comes after Trump warned last Thursday that “a massive fleet” was heading towards the vicinity of Iran “just in case” he decided to order some type of military operation against the Islamic Republic. In those same statements he also clarified that “perhaps we will not have to use it.”
Lincoln’s escort group includes three guided-missile-equipped destroyers: Frank Petersen Jr, Spruance, and Michael Murphy. The aircraft carrier also carries squadrons of FA-18 Super Hornets, F-35 fighter jets and MH-60R/S helicopters.
According to what military commanders have indicated to US media, although the fleet is already in waters under the responsibility of the Central Command (responsible for US operations in the Middle East), it has not yet reached its final location. The Pentagon is also sending US fighter jets and air defense systems to the area, whose arrival is expected in the coming days.
The aircraft carrier and its escort group were deployed in Asia-Pacific waters when they received the order to move to the Middle East following the escalation of tension between Washington and Tehran over the .
After what seemed to be the case, Trump suddenly changed his speech a week and a half ago. As protests across Iranian territory were quelled, the US president declared that the daily death toll was declining, and that there appeared to be no plans to execute political prisoners.
His decision to avoid a new intervention in Iran for the moment appears to have been motivated, at least in part, by the lack of sufficient US forces in the area: the aircraft carrier that had been assigned to the region, the Gerald Fordset sail for the Caribbean last October to participate in the military deployment of pressure against Venezuela and the operation that captured President Nicolás Maduro on the 3rd. The largest warship in the US fleet still remains there, as part of Operation Southern Spear against drug trafficking and as a pressure tool for the Venezuelan provisional government headed by Delcy Rodríguez, under the tutelage of Washington.
Last June, Trump already ordered a large deployment of US military force in the Central Command area. That was the previous step for a. The US president has since assured that this program was completely destroyed, although other experts consider that the damage was not absolute and the bombings have only delayed the development of Iranian nuclear activities, they have not prevented it.
Last week, a senior Iranian official said that any US attack would be considered “an open war.” This Monday, the spokesman for the Iranian Ministry of Defense, General Reza Talaei-Nik, warned Israel and the United States against any possible aggression, stating that his country would respond “with a more painful and more decisive response than in the past.”
This weekend, US forces announced that they will conduct military exercises in the area to “demonstrate the ability to deploy, disperse and maintain combat air power.” The United Arab Emirates, which hosts the US Al Dhafra air base, announced this Monday that it will not allow the use of its sovereign space to carry out any type of hostile military action against the Islamic Republic.
