May 6, 2019 – In Breaking News – CNN
“Specific and credible” intelligence that suggested Iranian forces and proxies were targeting US forces in Syria, Iraq and at sea led the Pentagon to recommend a carrier strike group be moved to the region, two US officials tell CNN.
The Pentagon and Central Command asked the White House to announce the military moves to give added heft to the new orders and send a message to Tehran, according to multiple military and US officials.
(The U.S. is sending a powerful message to Iran by sending the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln and a bomber task force to the Middle East. Intelligence reports suggest that Iran is preparing to attack U.S. forces in the region. Courtesy of CBS Evening News and YouTube. Posted on May 6, 2019.)
The strike group’s deployment from the Adriatic Sea to the Strait of Hormuz is aimed specifically at deterring any Iranian military actions, a senior military official added.
The Strait, a 21-mile wide waterway that separates Iran from other Gulf countries, is the conduit for shipments of about 30 percent of the world’s crude oil, making it a strategically crucial passageway for the global economy.
1 of 2: 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.
— Acting SecDef Pat Shanahan (@ActingSecDef) May 6, 2019
Iran explicitly warned the US in April against any moves to block or interfere with the Strait.
While Iran has made threats in the past, the officials said the scope of this latest set made military commanders strongly believe they needed to make both an urgent request for additional military forces and then make a public statement about sending that deterrent force to the region.
(A White House decision to dispatch an aircraft carrier and other military resources to send a message to Iran followed “clear indications” that Iranian and Iranian proxy forces were preparing to possibly attack U.S. forces in the region. Courtesy of TIME and YouTube. Posted on May 6, 2019.)
‘Had to be taken seriously’
“There was enough information to indicate this had to be taken seriously,” one of the officials said.
Administration officials have provided no detail publicly on the nature or extent of the threat.
National Security Adviser John Bolton said in a written statement Sunday that the US is not seeking war with Iran, but was deploying the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group as well as a bomber task force to the US Central Command region in the Middle East “to send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force.”
Continue reading… ‘Specific, credible’ Iran threat against US forces triggered carrier deployment, sources say
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