U.S. Deploys Forces to Mideast to Deter Iran by Gordon Lubold and Michael R. Gordon – Wall Street Journal
The U.S. is deploying a carrier strike group and a number of bombers to the Middle East to serve as a deterrent to Iran based on new intelligence that suggests allied interests and American forces could be imperiled, multiple U.S. officials said.
The Pentagon is sending a carrier and its accompanying ships as well as what is known as a bomber task force to the region in coming days in response to “a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings,” National Security Adviser John Bolton said in a statement Sunday.
“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,” he said.
The move, which comes after top-level discussions over the weekend, is considered a significant deployment of forces to a region from which the U.S. has been gradually drawing down its military footprint as it realigns its security priorities to compete with Russia and China…