The United States suddenly pulled the USS Nimitz – its only aircraft carrier in the Middle East – out of the region before the one-year anniversary of the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani, despite weeks of mounting tensions with Iran.
The move was reportedly a “sign of descaling” with the aim of avoiding a crisis with less than three weeks left of President Trump’s term.
The change came when Iranian leaders threatened revenge against President Trump and military leaders for the death of Soleimani. “Don’t assume that someone, like the President of America, who appeared as a murderer or ordered a murder, may be immune from justice being executed. Never, ”said Iran’s chief justice, Ebrahim Raisi, at a meeting to celebrate his birthday.
Nimitz’s departure also comes days after the U.S. launched strategic bombers over Iran as a show of strength, and a week after Trump warned the Iranian government that it would be held responsible for attacks against Americans in Iraq.
Acting defense secretary Christopher Miller ordered the USS Nimitz, which was operating off the coast of Somalia in the midst of a 10-month deployment that began in September, to return to its home port in Washington state. The Pentagon’s decision was made despite objections from top military advisers, according to The New York Times.
US intelligence officials have seen growing evidence that an Iranian attack on American forces is “imminent,” NBC News reported. Iran denies having planned an attack and even accused its archenemy Israel of planning to kill members of the United States service in a setting designed to provoke Trump to respond against Tehran.
The United States still has several other Navy ships in the region.
Separately, Iran said it was increasing its uranium enrichment to levels not permitted by the 2015 nuclear deal, from which Trump withdrew the U.S. in 2017, but President-elect Biden plans to return.