WASHINGTON (AP) – The Pentagon has decided to send home the only Navy aircraft carrier operating in the Middle East, a move that will reduce American firepower in the region amid rising tensions with Iran.
The decision, announced Thursday by interim defense secretary Christopher Miller, came a day after Air Force B-52 bombers flew nonstop from the United States to the Persian Gulf in a show of strength that military officials said they intended to alert Iran against attacks against US forces or interests.
Sending the aircraft carrier, the USS Nimitz, home on the West Coast of the United States would seem contradictory to the idea that a show of strength is needed to stop Iran. This may reflect a division within the defense system over whether the Iran represents a heightened threat of strike in the last days of the Trump administration.
In announcing the decision to send Nimitz home, Miller made no mention of Iran.
Earlier this week, an American military official close to the situation told reporters that the United States detected signs that Iran had prepared itself for possible attacks on American targets or allies in Iraq or elsewhere in the Middle East. This was the reason for sending two US B-52 bombers to briefly fly over the Gulf on Wednesday, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal assessments.
President Donald Trump recently cited the “conversation” that Iran can attack. Days after a December 20 rocket attack on the United States embassy complex in Baghdad by Iranian-backed Shiite militia groups, Trump tweeted that Iran was alert.
“Iran-friendly health advice: if an American is killed, I will hold Iran accountable. Think about it,” Trump wrote on December 23. He added: “We have heard rumors of additional attacks against Americans in Iraq.”
US concerns are related to the approaching anniversary of January 3 of the American air strike that killed Iran’s commander, General Qassem Soleimani. Iran initially retaliated with a ballistic missile attack on a military base in neighboring Iraq, which caused dozens of brain concussion injuries, but no deaths among American troops. But American officials are concerned that Iran is planning further retaliation.
Because of the potential for escalation that could lead to a broader war, the United States has sought to prevent Iran from further attacks. The strategic calculations on both sides are further complicated by the political transition in Washington to a Biden government that can look for new ways to deal with Iran. President-elect Joe Biden said, for example, that he hopes to get the US back to an agreement 2015 with world powers, in which Iran agreed to limit its nuclear activities in exchange for lifting international sanctions.
The U.S. has maintained an almost continuous presence of aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf region since the USS Abraham Lincoln was deployed in May 2019 amid concerns that Iran was considering attacking U.S. interests in the region. The United States also sent additional ground attack planes and re-established troops in Saudi Arabia.
Nimitz left the United States in April and was due to return before the end of the year. In early December, his planned return was delayed, in part because of concerns about potential Iranian threats and, more recently, he was ordered to provide support off the coast of Somalia for the movement of American forces outside the country.