12/05/2019
|The USS Arlington (Photo: AP)
The United States has announced it will deploy a Patriot missile defense battery and the USS Arlington amphibious transport dock to the Middle East amid escalating tensions with Iran.
“These assets will join the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and a US Air Force bomber task force in the Middle East region in response to indications of heightened Iranian readiness to conduct offensive operations against US forces and our interests,” the Pentagon said in a statement on Friday.
The USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group transited the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday from the Mediterranean Sea, while four B-52 bombers arrived at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
"It's important that Iran understand that an attack on Americans or its interests will be met with an appropriate response," Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan told reporters on Friday.