by The U.S. is having a hard time convincing people that their recent aircraft carrier strike group move isn’t related to events in Iran. The strike group has recently arrived in the Arabian Sea, but the U.S. states that this move is routine and has no connection to recent building tensions with Iran.
Tense Moments
Iran, in recent news, has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz is U.S. and EU sanctions over their nuclear program derail their oil exports. Tensions have been building lately, as Iran started an underground uranium enrichment plant and sentenced an American in a spying case to death. On Wednesday, Tehran pointed the finger at the U.S. and Israel, blaming both for killing an Iranian nuclear scientist
The U.S. military has said that it will definitely stop any blockade of the strait, but the Pentagon is still busy denying that there is any direct link.
Pentagon Covers Tracks
As Pentagon spokesman Captain John Kirby said,
“I don’t want to leave anybody with the impression that we’re somehow (speeding) two carriers over there because we’re concerned about what happened, you know, today in Iran. It’s just not the case.”
A second military official, explaining why two carriers are in the Arabian Sea at the moment said that it’s “not unusual to have two carriers in the CENTCOM theater at the same time.”
Iran Warns U.S.
Iran has warned that the Stennis better not re-enter the Gulf. The Pentagon has made clear, however, that sooner or later there will come a time when a carrier will definitely move through the Strait of Hormuz into the Gulf. As Kirby said,
“We routinely operate our ships – all of our ships, all of our types of ships – inside the Arabian Gulf and that will continue.”
