Washington, United States. The United States is sending an aircraft carrier and several destroyers to the Middle East amid heightened tensions, as President Donald Trump warned Iran against killing protesters or restarting its nuclear programme.
Naval deployments and potential additional defences
The USS Abraham Lincoln and several guided-missile destroyers will arrive in the region in the coming days, US officials said on condition of anonymity. Officials are also considering additional air-defence systems for the Middle East to guard against potential Iranian strikes on US bases in the region.
Trump comments and stated purpose of deployments
The deployments would give Trump more options to defend US forces during heightened tensions and to take further military action following June’s strikes on Iranian nuclear sites. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One while returning from Davos, Switzerland, Trump said: “We have a lot of ships going that direction, just in case…I’d rather not see anything happen, but we’re watching them very closely.”
Trump described the deployment as an “armada” heading toward Iran, adding: “maybe we won’t have to use it.”
Context of protests and execution claim
The warships began moving from the Asia-Pacific last week as tensions surged following Iran’s severe crackdown on nationwide protests in recent months. Trump had repeatedly threatened to intervene over the killing of protesters, though protests dwindled last week. He backed away from his toughest rhetoric after claiming he stopped prisoner executions.
Trump repeated that claim on Thursday, saying Iran cancelled nearly 840 hangings after his threats. “I said: ‘If you hang those people, you’re going to be hit harder than you’ve ever been hit. It’ll make what we did to your Iran nuclear (programme) look like peanuts,’” Trump said, adding that Iran cancelled the executions “at an hour before this horrible thing was going to take place.”
How do you think the deployments could affect tensions between the United States and Iran?