Suddenly, the U.S. pulled the USS Nimitz, its only aircraft carrier in the Middle East, out of the region before the one-year Sunday anniversary of the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani, despite weeks of growing tensions with the ‘Iran.
The move was reportedly a “sign of escalation” aimed at averting a crisis with less than three weeks to go before President Trump’s term.
The change came when Iranian leaders threatened revenge on President Trump and military leaders for Soleimani’s death. “Don’t presume that someone, like the president of America, who appeared as an assassin or ordered an assassination, can be immune to justice. Never,” Iranian Chief Justice Ebrahim Raisi told a meeting to commemorate the anniversary.
Nimitz’s departure also comes days after the United States flew over strategic bombers over Iran as a show of strength, and a week after Trump warned the Iranian government that it would be responsible for US-led attacks in Iraq. .
Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller ordered that the USS Nimitz, which was operating just off the coast of Somalia in the middle of a ten-month deployment that began in September, return to its home port of Washington state. The Pentagon’s decision was made on the objections of top military advisers, according to the New York Times.
U.S. intelligence officials have seen growing signs that an Iranian attack on U.S. forces is “imminent,” NBC News reported. Iran denies planning an attack and even accused its enemy Israel of planning to kill members of the U.S. service in a setup designed to provoke Trump to respond against Tehran.
The US still has several other Navy ships in the region.
Separately, Iran said it was increasing uranium enrichment to levels not allowed by the 2015 nuclear deal, from which Trump withdrew the United States in 2017, but President-elect Biden intends to reunite. se.