[ad_1]
The US aircraft carrier USS Nimitz was deployed to the Gulf this week, days before Iran’s top nuclear scientist was killed.
“There was no specific threat that triggered the return of the Nimitz carrier strike group,” Commander Rebecca Rebarich, a spokeswoman for the Bahrain-based US Navy 5th Fleet, said in a press release. e-mail statement after carrier deployment on Nov 25.
Rebarich said the redeployment was related to the reduction of the US military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“This action ensures that we have the ability to respond to any threat and prevent any enemy from acting against our army during the reduction of forces,” he said. good.
The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz sailed from San Diego, California for deployment to the western Pacific in June 2017. Image: Reuters.
Earlier this month, Nimitz joined the Indian, Japanese and Australian ships in the Malabar exercise. Nimitz left the city of Bremerton in Washington state in April, after a month of isolation and COVID-19 testing aboard the Kitsap Naval Base. It is unclear when this carrier will return home.
The US aircraft carrier was deployed days before Iran’s top nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh was killed in an ambush near Tehran on November 27. Iran accused Israel of being behind the attack as the “mercenary” of the United States and said it would respond at “the right time”.
The New York Times also quoted a US official and two other intelligence officials as saying Israel was behind the attack, but did not elaborate.
The assassination took place less than two months before US President-elect Joe Biden took office and is believed to complicate any attempt by Biden to “cool down” relations with Iran after four years as president. Donald Trump is in power. Trump withdrew from the 2018 Iran nuclear deal and began to reapply crippling sanctions.
Flee him (Reuters)
