In response to “a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings”, National Security Adviser John Bolton announced that they deployed an aircraft carrier to the Middle East to send a message to Iran.

Bolton stated, “The United States is deploying the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and a bomber task force to the US Central Command region to send a clear and unmistakeable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force.”

According to the New York Post,

John Bolton warned on Sunday that the Trump administration would send a “clear and unmistakable message” to Iran as a carrier strike group was traveling to the region amid tensions in Gaza.

President Trump’s National Security Advisor said in a statement that the country was deploying USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and a bomber task force to the region.

“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,” Bolton said in the statement.

This act comes during one of the bloodiest fights of recent years between Israel and Palestine in the Gaza Strip.

Fox News has reported,

The strike group, which includes the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, the guided missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf and destroyers from Destroyer Squadron 2, departed Naval Station Norfolk on April 1 for what the Navy described as a “regularly scheduled deployment.” The strike force is under the command of Rear Adm. John Wade.

The USS John Stennis aircraft carrier strike group was in the Persian Gulf as recently as late March. The Stennis and USS Abraham Lincoln joined forces in the Mediterranean Sea in recent days.

The deployment comes less than a month after the Trump administration designated Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a terrorist organization. In late March, the Air Force pulled its bombers from Qatar, one of the rare times since 2001 no bombers were deployed to the Middle East.

If Iran is attacking our allies, then the United States will respond appropriately. You don’t hit someone’s sibling and not expect retaliation from the older brother.

Photo Credit: Official U.S. Navy Page