Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
The Pentagon has deployed large numbers of U.S. military assets in the Middle East This week, including an aircraft carrier group and thousands of troops, Donald Trump said he still kept the option of striking Iran open after a crackdown on protests.
Trump confirmed the deployment to reporters on Thursday, saying: “We have a huge fleet heading in that direction and maybe we won’t have to use it,” clarifying that the move was “just in case.”
Trump has previously warned that Iran would take military action if it executed mass executions of prisoners or killed peaceful demonstrators.
However, he recently appeared to backtrack, claiming that Iran had stopped hanging 800 detained protesters. He did not elaborate on the source of the claim, which Iran’s top prosecutor has since called “completely false.”
However, Trump said Thursday that he appeared to be keeping his options open air force one He threatened military action that would make last year’s U.S. strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities “look trivial” if the government goes ahead with plans to execute some protesters.
Aircraft carrier sails to Middle East
The USS Abraham Lincoln and three accompanying destroyers left the South China Sea earlier this week and began sailing west, a Navy official said. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said on Friday that the Lincoln strike group was in the Indian Ocean.
When they arrive in the region, the warships will join three Littoral Combat Ships that docked in the port of Bahrain on Friday and two other U.S. Navy destroyers at sea in the Persian Gulf.
The arrival of the carrier strike group will bring approximately 5,700 additional military personnel. The United States has several bases in the Middle East, including al-Udeid Air Base QatarThousands of U.S. troops are stationed here and it is the forward headquarters of the U.S. Central Command.
The aircraft carrier was anchored as part of an effort to pressure former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro after the Trump administration shifted some resources from the region to the Caribbean.
The world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, was commissioned in October to sail from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean along with several destroyers. The USS Nimitz aircraft carrier, which helped carry out a June attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, also left the region in October.
More aircraft will also be put into service
Central Command said on social media that the Air Force’s F-15E Strike Eagle is now in the Middle East, noting that the fighter jet “enhances combat readiness and promotes regional security and stability.”
Likewise, the UK Ministry of Defense said on Thursday it had deployed Typhoon fighter jets to Qatar “in a defensive capacity”.
Flight tracking data analysts noted that dozens of U.S. military cargo planes also flew into the area.
The activity is similar to last year, when the United States deployed air defense hardware such as Patriot missile systems in response to an Iranian counterattack after bombing three key nuclear facilities. Days after the attack, Iran fired more than a dozen missiles at Al Udeid air base.
what is happening in iran
Since late December, Iran has been gripped by nationwide protests and demonstrations triggered by the Islamic Republic’s economic downturn. They have been putting new pressure on Iran’s ruling theocracy, which has responded with deadly crackdowns and internet shutdowns.
Activists said the total death toll from the crackdown rose to at least 5,032, with more than 27,600 people detained in a widening sweep of arrests. Iran’s official death toll is much lower – only 3,117 people died.
Iranian officials said last week that suspects detained during the protests would face speedy trials and executions, while also promising a “decisive response” if the United States or Israel intervened.